


Once we met, I never forgot

by sasuhina_gal



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Adopted Lance (Voltron), Altean Spirits, Balmera Spirits, Bisexual Lance (Voltron), Cuban Lance, Galra Shadow Spirits, Hagger and Honerva are twins, Japanese Mythology & Folklore, Lance is trilingual, M/M, Magic, Minor Character Death, Multi, Olkari Spirits, Pining, Spirited Away AU, Spirits, baby lotor
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-02-27
Updated: 2018-05-15
Packaged: 2019-03-24 21:23:48
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 15
Words: 56,415
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13819716
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sasuhina_gal/pseuds/sasuhina_gal
Summary: When Lance moved to Japan with his adoptive sister and his uncle, he was expected to be ready to adapt. His sudden arrival in the spirit world has him sure leaving behind his family's legacy wasn’t the right idea. He now has to navigate through the bath house of the spirits to save his adoptive family from their fate as pigs. Thankfully two familiar spirits are more than willing to help, leaving him with one question: why is his appearance changing so much?





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Here it is, my story for the Shklance Big Bang. This took so long to write, but I didn't give up and I pushed through, so hopefully, you guys like it. I was paired with the amazing shirussy and you can see their art [here](https://shirussy.tumblr.com/post/171609983109/once-we-met-i-never-forget-my-piece-for-the).

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Before it all began...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So um, my artist hasn't answered me back so these drawings aren't their's. It was done by the amazing [lovecinnatwist](http://lovecinnatwist.tumblr.com) who offered to draw something when I mentioned my artist hadn't answered me. Go check out her tumblr guys, she's amazing  
> Edit 3/7/18:  
> Nevermind, my artist computer had broken, so check the link above to see the art they drew for this. The ones in the actual story are drawn by lovecinnatwist

Lance remembered hearing the news, a freak storm caused a plane on its way to Cuba to crash. Lance remembered staring at the screen almost not comprehending what he was seeing. His family was on that flight and he wasn’t. There was a thing about how sick a person could be when flying into Cuba and Lance was the only one who got such a horrible cold. His mother didn’t want to leave him by himself but, his grandparents were sick and she was the only child to take care of things if anything happened to them. The older kids weren’t trusted to stay home by themselves; though Mark liked pointing out he was almost 18 to their parents. Lance stayed with a family friend, his mother promising him over and over that they’d only be gone for a week and they were coming straight back for him. Only, they never made it. The only thing Lance had left of them was memories and Mark’s green canvas jacket he told Lance to hold on to.

“It’ll keep you safe while I’m not here. We’ll be back before you know it.”

That promise kept rebounding in his head for ages when the police came, confirming it to him and they tried to figure out where he could go. His dad had no family he talked to and his mother was an only child. He had no place to go, except foster care. But he didn’t stay there long.

“Lance, this is Mr Alfor Altea, he’s here to adopt you.” The man standing before him had silvery, almost white hair and kind eyes.

“It’s nice to meet you Lance.” Lance stayed quiet. He’d been that way since the news. “I hope you can allow me to take care of you.”

Alfor introduced him to his daughter Allura and family friend Coran. The three tried to make Lance feel comfortable and they succeeded. They left him alone when he wanted it, was near when he felt too scared to ask for it. Anything that belonged to the family Lance lost, Alfor was able to get, letting Lance have the things he thought he lost. He kept quite most of the time, even as he started interacting with his new family more. Allura would try the most to get her new little brother to say something, anything, but the most he did, was hide his face behind his blue lion plush, which would cause Allura to apologize for pushing him and hug him.

Lance liked the people that took him in. Allura reminded him a lot of his sister and she knew when to stop pushing. Coran was, well he was different, but a nice different. His stories would keep Lance entertained and he seemed to pick up really well on how Lance was feeling. Alfor, Alfor cared like any father would. Lance was a mommy’s boy but his relationship with his father was just as close and being around Alfor made him remember it in such vivid memory.

Lance remembered the first time he spoke to them. He needed to get some shots his own parents hadn’t taken him to get yet and Lance was not happy. There was a reason his parents avoided it for so long, they knew how much Lance hated needles. Lance tried hiding in his room or running away from Coran and Alfor, but the two adults were quick. They buckled Lance into the car and were on their way. Once Lance saw they were outside the doctor’s office, he immediately burst into tears.

“Lance, please stop crying. What’s the matter? Do you not like the doctors?” Alfor asked, not expecting an answer but was surprised when he got one.

“Don’t like needles!” Lance shouted, his face messy with tears.

Alfor drove them to a nearby park, holding Lance close so he could calm down, trying not to get to excited.

“Lance, did your mommy and daddy know you didn’t like needles?” Lance nodded into Alfor’s neck. “I’m sorry, I didn’t know. How about this, we go get some cake from that bakery Coran likes. What was that cake you didn’t like?”

Lance was silent and Alfor thought that scream was the only thing he’d get when he heard Lance say, “strawberry, ‘lergic.”

“Allergic to strawberries, got it.”

Little by little, Lance started talking more and more, not hiding in his shell once he felt more and more comfortable with his new family. They were surprised by the motor Lance had as a mouth once he started opening up. When Alfor saw how much Lance would doodle on any paper he could get, he got Lance a proper sketch book. It was something he carried around as much as his blue lion plush. To Lance, things felt ok again, like everything was finally falling back into place.

Then Alfor disappeared and never came back. Even though Allura and Coran assured him differently, Lance was sure it was his fault.

* * *

 

Throughout the years, Lance knew he became a bit spoiled. He had been hurting from Alfor leaving and Allura and Coran kinda bent to his every whim. He tried not to, remembering how his mother would say spoiled kids learnt nothing, but when it’s handed to you on a silver plate, well. He was usually good at not falling into that mind set but sometimes spoiled kid tempura tantrums just happened. This time it was because he, Allura and Coran were moving to Japan, and Lance didn’t want to go.

“Lance, you ok?” Shay, Lance’s best friend asked.

“They can’t make me go.” Lance muttered, not really answering Shay.

“What happened? Why are you so upset?”

“They want to leave and move to Japan. I can’t believe they’d even think that’s ok!”

Lance had his back facing Shay, so he felt more than saw her leaning against him, her hands cushioning her chin against his arm. “Lance, you’ll have to be more specific. I can’t read minds.”

Lance was sure Shay was the one friend he had who could make him behave. She was quick to get him out of his spoiled mind-set and get him focused. Honestly, it made him wonder what a saint like her was doing with a boarish big brother like Rax.

“Allura got a new job and was going to move by herself, but I begged her not to. I didn’t want us separated. Next thing I know, she tells me we’re all moving to Japan! She can forget it, not happening.”

“Lance, come on. Be reasonable, she can’t quit her new job just to satisfy you,” Shay said, pointing out the spoiled thinking Lance had about the situation. “Besides, didn’t you tell me your parents took you to Japan for vacation with your siblings?”

“Yes, but that’s not the point. The same parents and siblings, their graves are here. Who’s going to visit them if I’m not here? If they were cremated I would think differently, but I didn’t. Not only that, this is the only place that still has any connection to Alfor. If I leave, then I’ll be leaving my family behind.” Lance said, sitting up to face Shay, though his eyes left Shay’s face as he spoke.

Shay pulled him into a gentle hug. “I know you don’t want to leave them after what happened, but Lance, do you really think they’d want you sticking around for them? You told me your parents wanted to go around the world with their family and you’re getting that chance. You said that trip to Japan was one of the best trips you’ve been in and you can relive that. And honestly, Alfor wouldn’t want you sticking around for him either. I will visit your family every day and you’ll message me stuff for me to tell them and you only have one more year of high school, so if you really don’t want to, you can move back down for college.”

Lance hugged Shay back tightly. He also didn’t want to leave her. Who was going to snap him out of that spoiled mind-set, put up with his overbearing personality, actually see past whatever masks he wore to help him through the bad days? He didn’t want to leave her behind either.

* * *

 

“Why doesn’t she come with us?” Allura asked, dishing out sticky rice for everyone. Once Lance finally agreed to come with them, things were moving to move them to Japan. Movers had started moving big pieces, packing them to be shipped over. Coran insisted they start getting themselves used to traditional food. Currently Lance was gagging at the sight of the natto and pickled vegetables.

“What do you mean, and please tell me there’s something else for me to eat.” Lance had to be the pickiest eater ever, so he was not looking forward to this.

“We made tempura as well, so you don’t have to eat that.” Allura said, watching her younger brother move the things over to Shay, who they invited for dinner. “Just because Shay is a vegetarian doesn’t mean you can shove all that stuff to her.”

“There’s plenty more where that came from.” Coran said, bringing over the plates of tempura.

“Anyway, as I was saying, when we get to Japan, it’ll be about 2 weeks before we actually head to the house. There are a few things we have to take care of first so while we’re doing that, Lance you’ll most likely be stuck in the hotel doing nothing. I had mentioned my father during my interview and it seems that the assumed he was still around, so when they sent me the tickets they sent me four. If your parents don’t mind, you can spend the 2 weeks that Coran and I are busy to be with Lance, and we’ll pay for you ticket back.”

“Oh I couldn’t.” Shay started but stopped at the tugging of her shirt.

“Shay please! Don’t leave me there by myself, please.”

Shay looked a tad bit conflicted. “Well, I’d love to say yes, but my parents wouldn’t be comfortable with you paying for the ticket back. It even makes me feel a bit uncomfortable.”

“How about we talk to you parents? If they agree and we can come up with a way for them to be ok with paying for your way back, you can come. We’d love to have you there.”

“Sure, that sounds good.”

It seemed like Lance got to have his best friend around for longer, when Shay’s parents agreed to pay for half of her ticket. Before he knew it, they were on the nonstop flight to Japan.

“Hey,” Shay said, pulling Lance’s attention away from the view out the plane window, “this isn’t goodbye, it’s see you soon. You’re not leaving them really since they’re always with you, but you are allowed to come back.”

He gave her a small smile. He knew she was right, didn’t mean it didn’t hurt any less. “Thanks.”

To Lance, it felt like after they landed, they were given a credit card and released into Tokyo while Coran and Allura took care of things. Seeing as Lance was the only one who could actually speak the language – take that Mr. Iverson, the locals mostly complimented on how well he spoke. He knew he wasn’t failing on purpose – he took Shay to see the things he remembered his father taking him to see.

“My dad really liked telling me the lore and history, so we spent a lot of time visiting temples half the time we were here.” Lance said, as he led Shay up the stairs of the closest shrine.

“That sounds like fun. Though, wouldn’t you of passes those little history tests Mr. Iverson gave?”

“Excuse you, I did. Iverson just liked failing me for no reason.”

“I’m sure he didn’t appreciate you showing him up in class that one time, and then later becoming the victim of that prank you pulled.” Shay pointed out, leaving Lance pouting.

2 weeks, in Lance’s opinion, passed much too quickly. Before he knew it, it was the day before they would drive to their new house, movers scheduled to pick up the things that arrived and take it to the new house and Shay getting ready to head back to America, where Lance was tempted to follow. He followed her around as she grabbed last minute souvenirs from the small shops. He felt like a little kid again, hanging close to Alfor after he got adopted and then Allura and Coran after Alfor disappeared. Shay leaving made it final, this was going to be his new home, far away from where his family was left.

“Lance,” Shay tried catching his eye as they stood in front of the entrance for international flights. He was more focused on the floor than his best friend in front of him. She gently turned his head with the tips of her fingers. “Hey, it’ll be ok. I know you don’t want to go, but this will be an amazing adventure. Think of the things you can tell your family when you get back.” Lance nodded slightly before turning his eyes back to the floor. “Hey, do you remember telling me about your phone charm, the matching ones you and Allura have? You told me Allura gave it to you so you know she’s always there, well…” Lance looked back at her to see her taking off a necklace with a blue crystal.

“Wait Shay, no. Your grandmother gave that to you.” Lance said, trying to stop her, but Shay still put it around Lance’s neck.

“Trust me, she’ll understand. Now you’ll know I’m there too, just like your family, okay. I’m never far.”

Lance felt his eyes stinging with tears as he surged forward to hug Shay. “Thank you. I’ll miss you so much.”

“I’ll miss you too. I’m only a LINE message away alright? I promise, your family won’t be lonely while you’re gone.”

He squeezed her even tighter before letting go. “You’re gonna miss your flight if you don’t leave soon.”

“I’ll message you before we get on ok? You’ll be ok, I promise.” With one last hug, Shay went through the doors, waving at Lance from the window.

Fingering the crystal, Lance met up with Allura and Coran, who were giving him pitying looks but Lance looked past that.

“Alright, I’ll still complain, but let’s go.”


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> And so it begins...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So my artist is kinda MIA, I have no clue where they are or why they haven't answered me about the art, but the amazing [lovecinnatwist](http://lovecinnatwist.tumblr.com) offered to make art and guys, omg, her art is so amazing, I am so honoured that she offered to help me, so definitely check out the previous chapter for her art as well and check out her tumblr and give her the praise she deserves, because she's amazing  
> Edit:3/7/18  
> Nevrmind, they didn't go MIA, they're computer decided to break day before I posted. Shirussy is techinally the artist I was paired with for this event, so go check [this](https://shirussy.tumblr.com/post/171609983109/once-we-met-i-never-forget-my-piece-for-the) to see it, but the art in the story was drawn by lovecinnatwist

“Lance, Lance, are you awake?” Lance felt someone’s hand nudge him in the back. He was cooped up in the backseat with their suitcases because of the small car they had rented, but still found some way to lay down, facing the seat. His attention wasn’t on the person calling him; it was on the phone he held in front of his face.

_I’m about to take off. Just know I’ll miss you Lance, we’ll see each other soon, don’t worry._

Lance had been staring at the message Shay sent on and off. It made him ache more with the wish to go back home.

“Lance, wake up, we’re almost there.” Allura said, as Lance felt another poke in his back.

“This is truly the middle of nowhere. I’m going to have to go to the next town to shop. And the nearest store with more American items is rather far.” Coran pointed out.

“We’re in a new country Coran, we’ll have to learn how to deal with it. Oh Lance look, there’s the high school. You’ll be attending there on Monday.” Allura said

Lance pushed himself up enough to look at the large building as they were passing it, sticking his tongue out childishly like it wronged him.

“It’s gonna suck, they’re all going to stare at me and make fun of me, which wouldn’t happen if we stayed home.” Lance complained, ignoring that small voice in his head to let it go. It sounded like Shay.

“Lance, you’ve had older people comment on how well your pronunciation is and if any of the students say anything, I’m more than willing to make a scene.”

Lance cringed at that thought. He loved his sister but god, when she got angry or upset she was like a tyrant queen. He had been so focused on that, that he almost didn’t realise the chain on the necklace felt slack.

“Ah, Coran! The chain on Shay’s necklace broke.” He yelled at his orange haired guardian. Great, his best friend gives him something important and he breaks it in a matter of hours. He could feel the guilt overwhelming him.

Coran took the necklace out of Lance’s hand, looking it over while Lance looked nervously over his shoulder. “I don’t think it broke, my boy. Look, the loop for the clasp over here must have widened.”

“So it’s not broken?”

“No, not broken. Here, I’ll fix it when we get to the new house.” Coran passed the necklace back, nudging against Lance’s forehead for him to sit back. “I know this isn’t at all what you want, but moving is a whole adventure. I did it when I came with Alfor to the states, now it’s time for you to take your steps and find your adventure, cause raising you was certainly an interesting one.”

That’s what everyone was telling him, it was good to move and he was sure that in another reality, he’d be excited. But he felt like he wasn’t ready to take this step forward. He wanted just to curl up until he could finally go back home. As Allura turned up a road, going up a hill, Lance attached the crystal to his phone charm, where his matching charm – Allura having the other one – sat. It was to keep the crystal safe, but looking at the blue and purple sitting next to each other reminded him a bit of Alfor. Both Alfor and Allura had blue eyes with hints of purple in them. When he was younger, he’d always asked Alfor if he’d get eyes like his and Alfor would tell him his body could change in the oddest ways, who knew what could change as he grew older? After he disappeared, Lance was glad he didn’t see any purple tint in his blue eyes. Looking in the mirror with eyes similar of the man who meant so much felt like it would have been too much to handle.

“Wait,” Lance looked up to see that Allura had driven them to a road that led into a forest. “Did I take the wrong turn?”

“Look, up on that hill is our house, the white one with the blue shutters.” Coran pointed out the passenger side window.

“Oh. Well this road should get us there.”

“Allura, no, you always get us lost. Remember that last road trip with your father?” Coran scolded, but the younger woman ignored him as she drove forward.

“That was my father’s fault.”

“You had the map.”

“And he didn’t listen.”

“Because you can’t read a map.”

While the adults were arguing about Allura’s directional problems, Lance spotted a pile of small house like stones.

“What are those stones? Are those shrines?” Lance asked, interrupting them.

“Yes, in fact it was said little spirits live in them. Wait, Allura, slow down.”

Lance plopped himself back in his seat as Allura decided to speed up. This is why Allura should never be behind the wheel. When she was driving to prove a point, her foot would somehow find the gas pedal. During the stint where Allura was trying to become a street racer down the dirt path, Lance just saw a frog looking statue sitting in the middle of the trees. He almost wasn’t sure if he saw it, but was more focused on the car shaking from hitting all the stones on the path.

“Allura Fara Altea, slow down this car!” Coran ordered, when they all spotted a medium sized stone through the windshield. Allura hit the brakes and barely stopped them from crashing into it. When they all caught their breath, they saw not only did they avoid crashing into the stone, which looked really familiar to Lance, but a large building with an entrance. The walls were a faded red and it looked like an old expensive type house that could have been in the Edo period. “What is this place?” Coran wondered out loud.

Allura got out of the car, Lance following her, both ignoring Coran’s orders to get back in the car. Lance heard Coran muttering something about only looking after one kid, not two. While following Allura, Lance got a better look at the stone they almost crashed into and started to feel uneasy on the fact it looked exactly like the statue he had seen sitting in the trees when they were driving down the road.

Allura was feeling the walls, looking like a kid in a candy store. “These walls are fake, they’re made to look old. Coran!” Allura called, prompting the man to get out of the car, “I want to take a look, please?”

“The movers will get to the house before us and if they start without us, they’ll leave it in the middle of the room and you won’t be happy about that, which leaves me to move everything _myself_.” Coran said, giving Lance a look that he turned away from.

“Just a quick look please?” Allura started begging as a slight wind started to blow. Lance’s unease grew even more at the feeling that the wind was pulling them in.

“Oh alright, fine. A quick look but you’re letting me drive on the way to the house got it?” Coran agreed, finally getting out of the car to join the two at the entrance.

“Yes, let’s go.”

“No.” Lance stated, “no way, I’m not going in there. Come on, let’s just go to the house, this place is creepy enough.”

“Oh come on Lance, don’t be a scaredy cat.” Allura teased, but Lance shook his head, stepping back.

“No, come on, let’s go.”

“It won’t take long. Lance, just wait in the car then.” Coran said, as he started heading through the entrance, Allura following after him.

Lance couldn’t believe they were leaving him here. He wasn’t a kid anymore but still. He glanced at the statue. It had a frog like face and was splattered in moss. Lance just couldn’t stand being next to it, not with all the unease he felt from looking at it.

“Wait for me!” he called, running in after them, grabbing onto Allura’s arm when they stopped for him.

“I thought you were scared?” Allura asked.

“I am. I can’t believe you were planning on leaving me there.”

“You would have been fine, you’re a big boy.” Allura said, sounding like she was teasing him a bit.

The three exited the tunnel and entered a large room with a few benches and what looked like a stone water fountain.

“What is this place?” Lance wondered out loud.

“Shh, do you hear that?” Coran asked, silencing them as the sounds of a train going over tracks echo in the room.

“We must be near a train station. Come on, I want to see more.” Allura tugged Lance forward, heading towards the exit.

Once they were back out in the sun, Lance was stunned at the sights. Rolling green grass as far as the eye could see. There were a few old buildings but it didn’t take away from the splendour of what he could see in front of him.

“I knew it!” Lance turned away from the sights to look at Allura, who was turned to the building they came from, “it’s an old theme park. There were a ton of them in the early 90s’ before they went out of business. This has to be one of them.”

Lance furrowed his eyebrows. Allura was a curator, half the reason they moved down here was because she was hired by a museum, but he didn’t expect her to know this much history.

“How do you- wait, where are you going?” He asked as she continued up the grassy path, heading out further as Coran followed her. “I thought this was a quick look? Hey!” suddenly a large wind swept by, making Lance’s clothes flutter in the wind. The sound of deep moaning sounded from behind him, scaring Lance even more. What was with this place?

He went after his sister and uncle, grabbing onto Allura again, who slowed down to look at Lance.

“The building was moaning. Allura, can we go back please?”

“Lance, calm down, it was just the wind. I swear, nothing bad will happen to us here. Besides, isn’t this place amazing? If we knew what it looked like we could have brought our lunch and had a picnic, just like we did when you were younger, remember?”

Coran had gone ahead, letting to adoptive siblings have their moment. He was standing on a rock when the two finally caught up.

“Looks like they were going to put a river here.” Coran pointed out, holding his hand out to help Allura across, but a look came across his face and he started sniffing. “Do you smell that? Something smells amazing.”

“And I’m hungry. Maybe this park is still in business. Lance, come on!”

Following Coran’s insanely good nose, they were lead to a restaurant that was obviously still prepping. Oddly enough, all they could see was restaurants all up and down the streets, but no people. This just made Lance feel even more uncomfortable. The weird statue, the ominous wind, the lack of people, everything about this just screamed weird to Lance.

“Lance, you have to come over and try this.” Allura, making herself comfortable, was eating what looked like a Cornish hen that was red from seasonings. Lance saw that Coran wasn’t any better, filling up at least two plates with the food that was laid out.

“No way, guys come on. We could get in trouble, doesn’t this seem at all a bit weird to you?”

“Worry not my boy, I have cash and card to pay and honestly, what’s weird about this place?” Coran said, setting his plates down and started devouring them. Lance watched in stunned silence as the two stuffed the mouths, almost snorting like pigs to fill their faces.

Lance gave up. If they weren’t going to listen, fine. He wasn’t going to be around when they got in trouble. He continued up the street and climbed up the large staircase. At the top was a tower with what Lance assumed was a light. He couldn’t make out what the kanji was saying, kanji were the bane of his existence. But a new sound turned his attention to the side, where the weirdness level grew even more. Right in front of him across a wooden bridge, was a bath house. It looked like a tradition high scale one too, given the large building, water fall and overall splendour of the place.

“A bath house, streets of restaurants, a closed down theme park and a weird statue? This place is too weird. Maybe this isn’t a theme park anymore.” Lance wondered out loud. He crossed the bridge, poking his head over the barrier to see the train tracks. “So the train runs here after all.” He was focused on it as the train came out that he didn’t notice that he wasn’t alone.

He heard a gasp and turned to see two guys, the shorter one looking about Lance’s age, the other looking a bit older but Lance had to admit they were pretty hot. The shorter one had longer hair in what Lance knew to be an Asian mullet and his eyes looked purple in the light. The older one had a scar on his nose but it did nothing to deter from how good looking he was and the white fringe that hung in his face tempted Lance to push it out of his face himself. But he couldn’t, because he didn’t know these people, but for some reason it seemed like they knew him, judging from the looks of stunned recognition.

Purple eyes narrowed his eyes as he stalked over to Lance, “you shouldn’t be here, get out of here. It’s almost night, you need to leave before sunset.”

Sunset? Did he just say sunset? Last time Lance checked, it was early afternoon, though he noticed the shadows where longer. How did the sun set so fast? When he noticed the lamps in front of the door turn on, the two looked fearful.

“They’re turning on the lamps.” The taller man said looking at the bath house, while Purple Eyes pushed Lance back the way he came. “Quick, you need to go across the river, we’ll distract them!”

Lance only saw a faint glowing from the man’s arm as he headed back the way he came, the place becoming darker and darker. Lights from the restaurants and lanterns overhead started to turn on as it became night and mysterious black figures appeared just as suddenly as the sunlight had disappeared. They were all different shapes and sizes, some with extra limbs. Lance didn’t want to be here any longer, he needed to find Coran and Allura.

_‘They said across the river? But there were just stones for the river to be put into place, is that what they meant?’_

“Coran! Allura!” Lance ran back to the restaurant, where the only two occupants still sat stuffing their faces. Lance was so focused on getting them to leave, he didn’t fully pay attention to how different they looked. “Come on we got to go, stop eating already!” Lance sprang back when he finally realized that Coran and Allura weren’t Coran and Allura anymore. He was staring at two pigs in their clothes and tuffs of their hair. The Coran pig was nudging it’s snout trying to get more food but was stopped when whatever thing was hiding in the steam from the kitchen slapped it with a fly swatter, causing it to teeter over and Lance to leave running.

He refused to believe that those pigs where his family.

_‘Across the river, they said get across the river! Maybe they’re there, please let them be there!’_

Lance started down the steps that would lead to the stones where the river was planned to be but was shocked when he suddenly ran into water.

“Water?” he climbed back out, looking out at what was once rolling green grass. The building he had walked out earlier before looked different, much different. He felt like he was looking across the water at a glimmering city, the beauty of the lights almost unbelievable with what Lance had seen before. “I’m dreaming, I’m dreaming!” Lance yelled to himself, hitting at his forehead, like he was trying to wake up, but the glittering city and an approaching steam boat were still in front of him. “Wake up Lance, wake up!”

His legs felt weak as everything he had witnessed in the past few minutes washed over him. He collapsed on the step above him, closing his eyes tightly, his fingers clutching tightly at the canvas jacket that belonged to his brother, hiding his face in his knees, like it could change everything.

“It’s just a dream, just a dream. Go away, go away, disappear.” As the blue eyed teen whispered the words to himself, he didn’t notice that he was slowly becoming see-through. In an attempt to see if anything was different, he opened his eyes and saw his hands. He lifted them up and was stunned to see the boat through his skin. “I’m see-through! No, no, no, this is just a bad dream.” He muttered, rubbing at his hands like he was trying to get it to stop when he felt the boat docking. He watched as the gang plank was laid out and the doors swung open and out walked – though it was more floating – multiple masks came out, the shadows of the creature wearing the masks casted on the walls, large yellow birds and what looked like a walking radish following after. Lance couldn’t believe what he was seeing and when he saw the same types of creatures from by the restaurants coming from the water, he let out a scream and went running up a nearby hill. Lance wasn’t sure where he was going but he hid himself in a corner, back against the wall.

This wasn’t real, this couldn’t be real. He didn’t want to believe this was real. It couldn’t be real. What he was feeling couldn’t be the same he felt when he realised his family wasn’t coming back from Cuba and when he realised that Alfor wasn’t coming back.


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lance enters the bath house...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So once again, the picture in here belong to [@lovecinnatwist](http://lovecinnatwist.tumblr.com), who offered to draw art after my paired artist computer broke and I couldn't get in touch with them. To see that art, check it out [here](https://shirussy.tumblr.com/post/171609983109/once-we-met-i-never-forget-my-piece-for-the). Don't repost the art, please go reblog it from the artists!

“His family was taken to the pens. We need to get to him before Hagger finds him.” Shiro said as he led him and Keith through the back ways to look for Lance.

Lance. It was weird, both he and Keith didn’t know their names. They only had the small bits after they couldn’t find home and came to the bath house but this boy, this human, they knew who he was and his name. They knew that he had to leave in order to be safe. Shiro wasn’t proud to admit it but any other human who passed through here couldn’t be saved because they ate the food left out for the spirits. They were turned to pigs to be feed to spirits. But this situation was different, Lance didn’t eat any of the food, so he had a chance of saving his family, however if he didn’t have anything from this world, he could disappear completely.

“What if we get him back to the bath house and he still can’t do much because he’s a human?” Keith asked, looking for the brown haired teen. “What if Hagger finds out we helped him and kills him?”

That was a good question. They needed to figure out a way to help Lance hide his human self unless the whole bath house found out about him, but still, they’d need a way to keep Hagger from just killing Lance if he did manage to work there.

“We’ll figure that out after we find him, and we need to find him quick. Any longer and he could disappear forever.”

The two stayed as close to the shadows as possible looking for the familiar body. Finally Keith stopped and grabbed Shiro’s arm, pointing towards a slightly transparent body.

“Shiro, there he is.”

“Keith remember,” Shiro started

“Don’t scare him, I know. Come on.”

The two rushed over to Lance, whose face was pressed into his knees, his whole body trembling. Keith approached Lance quietly, Shiro close by but trying not to crowed Lance. They kneeled down and Keith gently put his hands on Lance’s shoulders. Lance’s head shot up when he felt Keith’s warmth on him.

“It’s ok, we’re here to help.”

“No, no,” Lance started, still scared with everything that was happening.

Keith picked a berry from a plant nearby and held it up to Lance’s mouth, “you need to eat something from this world or else you’ll disappear.”

“No!” Lance went to push him away but by that time, he was practically a ghost, his arms able to pass through Keith. He used Lance’s moment of being stunned to push the berry into his mouth.

“Don’t worry, it won’t turn you into a pig. Chew it and swallow.” Shiro winced for Lance, he knew how bitter those berries were but it was helping him so he knew he couldn’t complain. Once Lance swallowed, the two felt relief. He was safe. “There, all better now. See.” Keith held out his hand, letting Lance touch it to see he wasn’t disappearing.

“I’m ok.” The shaking had stopped and Lance looked less scared, like realising he had someone he could trust made him feel safe.

“See? Now,” Keith started to stand up, but Lance grabbed at his hand, keeping him near him while Shiro stood up.

“Wait, Coran and Allura, they didn’t really turn into pigs did they?”

“You can’t see them now, but we promise you will.” Keith said, trying to calm Lance down.

Suddenly Shiro’s attention was drawn to the sky before he kneeled down, pushing Keith and Lance to the wall. “Stay still.” Keith seemed to understand what was going on, while Lance seemed confused. Shiro watched an owl with a masked face flying above, circling like it was looking for something. Keith had his arms around Lance and squeezed tight when the bird flew close by. It finally flew away and Keith released Lance, standing up after Shiro let him go.

“That bird is looking for you; we need to get you out of here.” Keith tried pulling Lance up but his legs wouldn’t move.

“I can’t move my legs! Help, what do I do?”

“It’s ok, I need you to take a deep breath.” Lance followed Shiro’s instructions and Shiro put his right hand over Lance’s closest leg, “by the water and wind within me, unbind him.” a small purple light emanated from his hand as he allowed his power to break whatever spell was trying to keep Lance down. He guessed Hagger spelled the bird to bind any human it flew nearby.

Keith was quick to pull Lance up, barely giving him a chance to be steady on his feet before pulling Lance through side streets and back allies, Shiro close behind him. Keith used his own power to open the doors that allowed them to run through a fermenting room, meat freezer and a pig pen. Shiro wasn’t happy about bringing Lance to the bath house and near Hagger, but what choice did they have, it was the only way to try and save his family.

Lance wasn’t sure if he could trust these guys but honestly, they had done everything to make sure he was safe. He had been scared when he saw the bath house, but they were going through the side entrance and when they heard voices, the two made sure they were hidden. They weren’t taking him back to be handed over; they were making sure he was protected.

“Being at the bath house is the only way we can help you get your family back.” The taller one said as they approached a side gate that would get them as close to the bridge as possible. Lance could hear people welcoming the creatures from the boat. He didn’t want to get anywhere near that but there was only one way in and it was over the bridge.

“What are we going to do about those things seeing me?” Lance asked, sticking close to Purple Eyes. He was really going to have to learn their names.

“We could put a spell on you so the spirits don’t see you but the thing is that bridge breaks spells. The only way it would work is if you didn’t breathe while crossing it because once you did, the spell would break.” The taller one suggested, looking right at Lance, waiting for him to make a decision.

Lance was glad they weren’t trying to spell him without his consent but he still felt nervous but what other choice did he have? “Ok, I’ll do it.”

“Alright, do you want me to do it or Keith?” Keith had to be Purple Eyes then. It was almost a bit strange hearing an English name given to a guy who lived in Japan but who was he to judge?

“You can do it.”

“Alright, come here. It won’t hurt I promise.” Lance noticed that the guy’s right arm was covered in different symbols and such. One that caught his eye was a black lion with wings on the back of his hand. Starting with the marking and going upwards, they glowed purple, reminding Lance of the light he had seen when he was leaving the bridge the first time. He didn’t approach Lance, so he guessed he was waiting for Lance to come to him. Who were these people? How did they know him and why where they so incessant on protecting him?

Lance let go of Keith’s arm that he had been hanging on and stepped as close as possible to the taller guy. He was really going to figure out his name. Once he was close, the guy rested his hand on Lance’s head and Lance watched the markings glow brighter before they eventually dimmed down. Lance didn’t feel any different but they both seemed less worried.

“Alright. Now remember, when you breathe on the bridge the spell will break. Even the tiniest breath will break the spell.”

Lance nodded, keeping close to him while Keith opened the gate. Lance squeezed tightly at the guy’s arm at the sight of all spirits talking to each other, like it was a normal day. At the bridge stood two frog like creatures. Lance thought they looked almost like the statue in front of the tunnel. They were holding lanterns, welcoming the different spirits.

“We’re back from our mission.” Keith told the frog.

“Ah welcome back Master Keith, Master Shiro.” Shiro, so that was his name.

“Ok, take a deep breath and hold it.” Shiro instructed as they started their trek on the bridge. Lance kept his hand in front of his mouth and nose to keep himself from breathing. One noticeable spirit was a tall black mass with a white mask with a blank face. He pressed closer to Shiro in order to get away from it. He felt his lungs burn with the lack of oxygen.

“Almost there.” Shiro whispered.

They would have made it if a small spirit with pair ram horns came bounding over. “Master Keith, you’re back.” Lance couldn’t take it anymore, he took a breath. “Huh, a human?”

Keith trapped to the spirit in an orb before they rushed forward, ducking beneath the human looking female spirits who were greeting guests. They were more concerned with the blast of wind that caused their skirts to rise up while the three ducked into the garden through a small door.

While ducking behind garden bushes, Lance could hear people in the bath house yelling about the smell of a human, a human sneaking into the place and worry about Shiro and Keith near a human.

“They know you’re here.” Keith said, peeking around the bush they were hiding behind.

“I’m sorry. I took a breath.” Lance said, feeling guilty. They had done everything they could to keep him safe and he messed it up with a breath.

“Hey, it’s not your fault. You’ve been extremely brave.” Keith said, putting a comforting hand on Lance’s arm. “But you’re not safe anymore. They know you’re here and if you get catch you won’t be able to save your family.”

“So…so it wasn’t a dream. This isn’t a dream. Allura and Coran really turned into pigs didn’t they?”

“Yes. But if you can get a job here, you have a chance at saving them.” Shiro said, “However, if Hagger finds you, she might not give you a chance.”

“Hagger?”

“She’s the witch of the bath house. She won’t give you a chance to try and save your family…but there might be a way.” Shiro said. “Keith, do you still have that potion, you know, the…”

Keith raised an eyebrow, “really? You think it’ll work?”

“What? What is it?” Lance asked

“We have this potion that mimics the appearance of a spirit, a spirit that hasn’t been seen in over 10,000 years. If you look slightly like that spirit, then she wouldn’t be able to kill you.”

“It, it won’t hurt me right?” Lance asked. They berry was fine, despite how bitter it was but this seemed like it was different.

“No. it’ll just change your appearance a bit. These spirits have been known to walk amongst humans, so if we’re lucky, they won’t cause you too much grief. But only if you want.” Keith said.

Lance thought it over. The idea of taking something that could change him was scary, but they said he’d have work here to try and save his family. If it helped, he’d do it.

“Ok, do you have it?” Lance watched Keith reach into his red kimono sleeve and pulled out a small vail.

When handing it over to Lance, Keith said, “we’ve never tried these ourselves, so we don’t know how long it would take to kick in. I would suggest drinking the whole thing.”

Lance struggled with the stopper but he got it off and after hesitating a bit, downed the entire vail. It burned going down his throat and had the strangest after taste of caramel. He also noticed the panicked voices inside the bath house where getting louder and more frantic.

“We’re going to have to go.” Shiro said, seeming to notice the noise increase as well. Lance was quick to grab Shiro’s sleeve.

“No wait, don’t leave me please!” they couldn’t leave now, he needed them to be close. He needed something to keep him together; he couldn’t do this by himself.

“Lance, I know you’re scared,” Shiro said, gently pulling Lance’s grip off his sleeve, but still keeping a tight hold on his hand, “but it’s the only way for you to help your family.” The same marked hand that turned him invisible gently touched his forehead as Shiro said, “When we divert the attention, this is what you need to do.” The markings glowed as a vision was shown in his eyes, showing Lance exactly what to do. “When it quiets down, go out the back gate and all the way down the stairs until you reach the boiler room. There, you’ll meet Kolivan, the boiler man.”

“Kolivan?” Lance asked as Shiro pulled his hand away.

Keith nodded at Lance’s question. “Tell him you want to work for him, even if her refuses. He’ll try and turn you away or trick you into leaving, but you have to keep insisting. It’ll be hard work but you can stay here. Hagger won’t have an excuse to hurt you along with the fact that you look like an Altean spirit.”

Altean, odd. It sounded like Allura and Alfor’s last name.

“We need to go and remember Lance, we’re your friends.”

“Wait, how did you know my name?”

“We’ve known you since you were very small. Good luck and don’t make a sound ok?” Lance watched them walk out from behind the bushes, taking on a more serious look. “Calm down, we’re coming.”

“Master Keith, Master Shiro, Hagger wants to see you.” Lance heard, hearing the doors slid open.

“It’s about our mission I suppose.” Shiro said, before the sound of closing door blocked out any other noise. He had to guess with the sight of Keith and Shiro fine, the people inside left that area, no doubt to go search for him or go back to work. He pressed his face into his knees, trying to centre himself. He had to do this, Shiro and Keith risked a lot to help him and it was the only way to save Coran and Allura. He took a deep breath and crawled to where Shiro showed him where the door was. He unlocked the gate and slowly climbed onto the landing of the steps. The steps had no railings that would help him from falling down the drop, where he could hear the train passing by. Lance was usually good with heights, but this was a height without a safety precaution.

He locked to door back and heard shouts coming from the bridge; no doubt off to go look for him. There was a metal railing attached to the wall, but he did not trust that. He was sure if he even touched it, it would fall off. Moving as slowly as slowly as possible, he started moving down the steps with his whole body, planting his feet on the step, slowly bringing his body down sit on the step and repeated the process until he slid down a few steps. He said as still as possible as his heart pounded in his chest. This was going to take too long, he had no choice. He safely put himself on the step his feet were closest too, and after taking a calming breath, he put his foot down on the next step. Feeling it steady under his sole, he pushed himself up to walk down the steps normally but the step broke from under him. Lance wasn’t sure when he went from sliding down the stairs to running down them, but he did know he was screaming the whole way there. He stopped when he reached a landing and slammed into the wall, thankfully not damaging himself. He took deep breaths, trying to calm his heart. _How_ was this worth it? Oh right, saving family. Still though. He heard a window above him slid open and he looked up to see one of those frog looking creatures, taking a smoke. To make sure he didn’t draw attention, he slowly moved around the corner where the next set of stairs was. He was glad to see they were stone, not wood.

“Come on Lance, you can do this. For Coran and Allura.”

He felt safer going down the next set of steps and finally reached the landing where the door he saw in the vision. Nerves started to kick back in, he had no clue what was behind the door and he didn’t have Keith or Shiro to protect him. He turned the knob on the door and pulled it open, getting a blast of hot air escaping from the hall. He slid in, letting the door close behind him, trapping him in the hot hallway that lead to a room where light grew brighter and dim with the sounds of something almost filing away. With slow steps, he walked towards the source of the light and once he was close enough, peaked around the corner. Near the front of the room was this thing, Lance guess the boiler, but it looked like the face of some metal monster. Near the bottom, there was a mouth opening and closing and he noticed that pieces of coal were moving towards it, like they were floating. He looked to the platform where a large man sat. He was purple with fuzzy ears and he had white hair tied in a braid. His strong thick arms moved a round object back and forth, like he was grinding something. He looked almost approachable when shadow like hands emerged from his back and reached down for the large kettle, the other opening a tall jar filled with herbs.

Fear started to overtake again, making him back away. He couldn’t do this. A blast of hot steam came from one of the pipes, scaring Lance.

_‘Lance, come on breath. You_ have _to do this. Keith and Shiro lied to the spirits to help me, they’re putting themselves at risk. They wouldn’t tell me to come here if they didn’t trust him.’_

He peeked his head around again and watched as Kolivan tugged a rope that held a piece of red wood with a gold symbol, a dinging sound emanating when he did that. Then he picked up a mallet and hit it against the edge of the platform he sat at. All the coal that wasn’t being thrown into the burner, moved back towards the far end of the room, where he saw little holes, like something was being house underneath there. He was also sure he saw some sort of black poof balls moving back towards the little hunches. Finally, the room was silent of working as Kolivan started cleaning the grinder. Carefully, Lance came out of his hiding spot and walked over to the platform. He was much bigger up close, probably taller than Shiro and Lance got a better look at his face. There was a scar over his eye, though it didn’t seem to bother him and there were patches of red on his face.

“Um, excuse me? Are you Kolivan?” he didn’t even seem to notice him, so he spoke louder, “are you Kolivan? Keith and Shiro sent me.” That seemed to get his attention. He glanced at Lance then did a double take, leaning over to get a better look at him.

“How on…”

“Um, Keith and Shiro said I could work here, can I get a job please?”

Kolivan looked down at him in such confusion like he didn’t understand what a human was doing here. With the reaction he had gotten from other people, he didn’t blame him but he tried to stay brave, even though he was inches away from becoming a trembling mess. Before Kolivan could even ask anything though, four strings of rope, holding the red wood came down a chute.

Kolivan growled at the sight of them, “four bath tokens at once? Come on, get to work!” he yelled, slamming his mallet against the platform. “Yes I’m Kolivan, slave to heating the baths and I don’t know what those two told you but I don’t need any help. This place is full of soot, one spell and I have all the workers I need.”

Lance looked over to the hutches, to see the wave of coal approaching him. He could slightly see the poof balls – or soot balls as he now knew them – carrying the lumps of coal over to the mouth of the boiler. Lance pressed himself against the wall of the platform but it seemed that wasn’t the best place to stand, when once soot ball bumped into his feet and started squeaking at him in annoyance. Then another one crashed into that one and before he knew it, he was causing a pile up.

“Uh, wait, one second.”  He hoped out of the way and made his way over to the hutches which were out of the way.

Just then, one of the shadow arms emerged from Kolivan’s back and was headed straight for him. Lance flinched but all it did was gestured for him to move out of the way. He fell on the genkan and realised the whole wall was full of drawers that obviously held different herbs and such. He watched the shadow hand find exactly what drawer it needed before going back to Kolivan, who sat there doing his job, ignoring Lance. He didn’t feel so scared anymore, at most he felt a bit lost. Kolivan wasn’t helping him like he thought he would and he was still unsure on what to do. His family were pigs, Keith and Shiro weren’t nearby to help him, he didn’t know what to do. As he tried to think what to do next, he saw a soot ball come out from one of the hutches near him, struggling to hold a lump of coal. He watched it struggled when it let out a squeak and the coal dropped on it. Getting up, Lance leaned down and lifted the coal off, where the mess of soot sat when the soot ball formed again before disappearing in the hutch.

“Wait, what do I do with this?” Lance asked. The lump was much heavier then he thought and the other soot balls who stayed to watch the spectacle weren’t much help as they walked back to their jobs. “Do I just leave it here?”

“Finish what you started human.” Kolivan snapped.

‘It would be hard work’, that’s what Keith said and his mother always told him how hard work paid off. He wouldn’t be that spoiled kid he knew he acted like at times. The soot balls made a bit of a pathway when they saw him approaching the mouth of the boiler. The amount of heat flew into Lance’s face as he got to the bridge that the soot balls would be stand on to throw the coal in. The opening and closing mouth made him hesitate with childish fear but he took a deep breath and threw the coal in. As he stumbled back to the platform to press himself against, he felt accomplished. The whole machine looked like it could eat him making him childishly uneasy, but he pushed through it and didn’t fall into that childish mind-set. He noticed that all the soot balls were staring at him, when one deliberately dropped its lump of coal on its head. Unlike the other soot ball, it couldn’t move the coal that was sitting on top of it, but this one did, as it inched closer to his feet, the other soot balls that followed suit in hopes of not doing work.

Lance flinched at the sound of the mallet being struck down so close to his ear. “Do you want to turn back into soot? And you, you can’t go around taking someone else’s job. If they don’t work, the spell wares off and the turn back into soot. I don’t know what you heard, but there’s no work here, try somewhere else!”

It seemed the demand annoyed the soot balls, because the left the pile to start squeaking in anger at Kolivan who just glared down at them.

“You soot balls have a problem? I swear, it’s like watching those two walking back in here.”

The angry muttering was interrupted by the sound of a door being slid open and someone, a guy, calling, “meal time. Kolivan, you aren’t being mean to the soot balls again are you? They are your only source of company when no one else is here you know. Also I keep telling you to leave your bowl out; it makes it much easier on me.”

Kolivan was distracted by the arrival of food, as Lance saw him put a plate of tempura shrimp, radishes and a bowl of rice on the ledge in front of him, handing two pairs of chopsticks to two shadow hands, while he tugged once on the rope sending it back up its chute.

“Meal time, take a break.”

Completely forgetting the argument they had been in with Kolivan, the soot balls seemed to cheer as they bounced to where a tall stocky guy rested a tray on the floor of the genkan and started throwing star candy from a shallow wooden pail. His skin was a kind of pale green with almost rocky looking skin, black ears which also had stubby tusks, an orange bandana wrapped around his forehead. He was focused on feeding the soot balls he almost didn’t notice Lance. Almost. He did glance over for whatever reason and let out a yell when he saw Lance, scrambling up and pointing at him.

“A-a human! You’re the one everyone’s looking for. How did you get in?”

Lance didn’t know how to answer. Nothing was going the way he thought it was.

“He’s my nephew.” Kolivan answered as he ate. Both guys looked at the boiler man in surprise.

“Nephew? But, but he’s a human.” The rocky looking guy pointed out.

“He’s an Altean spirit. His disguise hasn’t worn off yet.” How did Kolivan…?

“But Altean spirits haven’t been seen in over 10,000 years. And you’re a Galra shadow spirit, how…you know what, not gonna ask, cause I’m probably not going to like the answer.”

“He needs a job but I have all the workers I need here, can you take him to see Hagger?”

“Are you insane? Now you look like a nice guy, but helping a human can either extend my contract or I could get killed.”

A shadow hand reached in front of the guy, showing off what looked like a newt, “I swiped a fried newt that time they were giving them out. I remember you said you didn’t get one.” Kolivan almost seemed, well, cheeky.

The guy almost glared at Kolivan’s back, “you manipulator…”

“And other things you’ve called me in our friendship. Kid, even if I could give you a job, Hagger would find out about you anyway. Best to get it over with and ask for a job from her. Tell those two that they lucked out with that potion.”

“Fine.” The guy took the newt and stuffed into his kimono, “come on, I’ll take you.”

Lance nodded and extracted himself from the mountain of coal the soot balls created around him.

“No thank you?” he asked, putting Kolivan’s old plate inside the empty pail.

“Uh, sorry sir.”

The guy cringed as he stood up and nodded to Lance’s shoes, “don’t call me sir, I don’t like it. Call me Tsuyoshi or Hunk ok? Oh and don’t bother keeping the socks on, you walk bare feet in the bath house.” Lance nodded and tucked his socks into his shoes, placing them in the space the soot balls made. He followed Hunk to a small sliding door tucked away like a secret entrance when Hunk stopped him. “Thank the boiler man, he’s really sticking his neck out for you.”

Lance went to stand up, but after hitting his head on the very low ceiling, he decided to be extremely formal and bow on his knees. “Thank you Kolivan.”

“Good luck.” he called before Lance followed after Hunk. They walked into a large hallway that lead to where all the mechanisms for elevators could be seen.

“We need to go all the way to the top floor. That’s where Hagger is.” Hunk said, looking around to make sure no one was around before stepping into the elevator. He pulled the lever and the elevator started going up. “So Altean spirit?”

“Uhh, half.” Lance said, hoping it sounded believable.

“I guess that makes sense. Explains why the scent of human is so strong on you and why you don’t have the markings.”

“Uh, not yet. My, uh, disguise hasn’t worn off yet. So uh, what kind of spirit are you?”

“Oh, Balmaran spirit. We’re known for blessing the earth and leaving crystals in places with our highest blessing. Course, not really doing that here.” Lance wanted to ask but Hunk didn’t look like he was in a sharing mood so Lance stayed quite.

As much as Hunk acted like sneaking a human around wasn’t at all what he wanted, he was really good a sneaking around, going to all the elevators and avoiding other workers. He made Lance practically hold on to the back of his shirt to keep him close and behind him so no one would see him.

“We’re almost there, kay?” Hunk asked as they waited for the elevator to reach the highest it could go. When they did however, Lance felt Hunk stiffen. “The radish spirit!” Lance peeked around a bit to see that white thing he saw exiting the boat earlier. It made a moaning sound, while pointing upward. “I’m so sorry sir, this elevator only goes up this high. I’m afraid you’ll have to find another one.” Hunk walked forward. He guessed the spirit wasn’t going to say anything, but he wasn’t so sure since he was following them.

“He’s following us.” Lance whispered.

“Don’t look at him.” Hunk ordered, bowing to another guest walking by. He didn’t look at the spirit as he got to another elevator and hit the up button, making sure to block Lance as much as possible. When the doors opened, Hunk blocked him more as three spirits walked out, led by a frog looking worker. The frog didn’t walk far when he sniffed the air. Lance felt tense but Hunk pushed him into the elevator as the frog turned. He was blocked more when the radish spirit walked in behind him, taking up most of the space.

“Hunk, what’s that smell? You smell like a human.”

“Oh really?” Hunk replied, almost sounding insulted.

More loud sniffing was heard. “Come on, what are you hiding show it to me.”

Lance heard Hunk sigh and the rustling of clothing before Hunk said, “Is this what you smell?”

“Roast newt!” the sound of hands clapping sounded before Lance heard the whines of the frog.

“No way, I didn’t get any last time so I’m keeping all this for myself.” He heard begging before Hunk’s voice speaking over it, “to go up, pull the lever on your left.”

Lance squeezed himself between the wall and the radish spirit and pulled the lever, seeing Hunk stuff his newt in his mouth as the doors closed.

Now it was just him and the radish spirit. He could do this, even if he was heading straight for the person Keith and Shiro wanted him to avoid.

 

 


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lance meets the witch of the bath house and things start to change...

The silence in the elevator was awkward. Lance was pressed against the wall, feeling the heavy breathing of the radish spirit against his body. As far as he knew, the spirit didn’t speak much except in moans and grunts, so he couldn’t ask why he was even helping Lance. He felt the elevator stop and the doors opened to revel a dimly lit hallway, the walls covered in sliding doors. The noises and odd shadows made feel Lance uncomfortable. It was obviously not the right floor as the radish spirit pulled the lever down again, closing the door and causing the elevator to move again. He glanced at the spirit who also glanced right back at him. He could hear his mother’s voice telling him not to stare. This spirit was helping him and no matter the reason, Lance had to be grateful.

The elevator stopped again and Lance walked out, the spirit poking its head out with him. This had to be the right place. Everything was richer and more modern than the traditional design and architecture of the bathhouse down below. He turned back to the radish spirit and bow slightly in thanks. When the doors closed, Lance took a deep breath, his hand going to his pocket where he fingered the good luck phone charm. He could do this, he had to do this. He approached the large wooden door and gripped the handle. He went to pull it open when a coarse and ragged voice stopped him.

“You’re not even going to knock?” Lance looked at the door knocker. It was shaped like a woman’s face and the golden eyes rolled around in its face before speaking again. “You’re the most pathetic looking human I’ve ever seen.”

Lance had been scared at the sight of the knocker when the door opened the reveal a whole hall of other doors opening, lights lighting the way. The urge to turn tail and run away was growing.

“Well, come in.” he heard that voice so clearly, even though he knew it had to be down that hall. “I said, come in.” liked someone grabbed his shirt to yank him somewhere, he was pulled off his feet and went soaring down the hall by his shirt, the doors slamming closed as he went through them. He yelped when he made a sharp turn and burst through another door, feeling the non-existent grip disappear as he went tumbling to the ground.

He groaned, lifting his head to be greeted by three purple, furry heads. He let out a scream as they jumped around him, letting out these grunting sounds.

“Quite down, you’re making a racket.”

He let out one more yelp as the fuzzy heads started to retreat from him. He looked up to see a woman sitting behind a desk. Her hair was white, not as white as Allura, but blonde white. She had the oddest markings on her face and her ears were pointed like an elf’s. This had to be Hagger.

“Um excuse me, I was wondering if you could give me job please?” Lanced asked

Hagger hadn’t even been looking at him when he entered the room, her eyes on what he guessed was documents for the upkeep of the bath house. However, after Lanced asked his question she finally lifted her head, revealing her gold eyes. She lifted her hand and dragged it across the air and Lance felt his lips zip close. He grabbed at his face trying to pull them apart as Hagger scoffed.

“I don’t want to hear such a ridiculous request. This is no place for humans, little boy. This is a place where 8 million different gods and spirits come to replenished themselves.” Lance watched Hagger pick up one of those Japanese styled pipes, the ones with the long bodies. “But of course, you humans always make a mess of things, like that family of yours who gobbled up all the food left for the spirts like the pigs they were. And you should be punished too. Should I turn you into a piglet or a lump of coal?”

Lance felt his entire body shaking, trying his hardest not to show it as Hagger lit her pipe and took a breath, letting it out of her nose, the clouds of smoke curling around her almost like the shadow hands of Kolivan.

_‘Oh god, lump of coal. She knows I was with Kolivan. She knows someone helped me get here.’_

Hagger cackled. “I can see you shaking. In fact, it’s surprising you’ve been able get this far. Obviously you didn’t do it on your own. Why don’t you tell me who helped you my dear?”

Lance felt his lips detach, allowing him to speak. He decided to do something he had seen his sister do when she wanted something even though she was in trouble.

“Please, give me a job!” he shouted.

That got her attention, as she slammed the table causing a few papers to fall from their piles, “do not start that again!”

“Please I just want to work!”

When Keith and Shiro had mentioned the witch of the bath house, he didn’t understand how a witch could be amongst so many spirits. But now, seeing as her anger grew and all the items around her seemed to shake in her anger, he realised she was something spirits were afraid off.

“don’t say that!” she seemed to leap from her seat, her purple cloak flapping about her as she landed in front of him, her hair even more all over the place as she stabbed her sharp nail into his chest. “Why on earth should I hire you? Anyone can see you’re lazy, spoiled, useless and you have no manners. I am running a high class place here and I’ve got all the lazy fools I need.” Her fingers trailed upwards as she walked around him, her nails scratching at his neck as he felt her hot breath against the back of his neck. “However, I could give you my most difficult, disgusting, horrible job and work you to your very last breath.”

Lance felt like he couldn’t breathe as the nails dug into his neck. He was sure she wouldn’t even wait for an answer before killing him when he heard the sound of something shaking. The whole room’s attention was to a door, right across from Hagger’s desk where the unmistakeable sound of a baby crying sounded. And then a large purple coloured foot came crashing through the door.

“Oh no, you woke up the baby.” Hagger’s entire demeanour changed at the sight of the foot. She ran over to where the door once stood, speaking to whoever was inside. “Hello darling, momma’s here.” Another crash echoed. “That’s a good boy.” Then she realised Lance was still in the room. “What are you still doing here? Leave now.”

“Please give me a job!”

“Quite, you’ll wake the baby!” Hagger yelled back before she was hit in the head with a foot.

Lance recognised this scene. When he was just a kid, crying whenever he didn’t like anything, his sister could take such advantage of their parents stress. He wondered if she’d be proud to see him use the same tactics as her. “I’m not leaving until you give me a job!”

Much quieter this time Hagger said, “Alright, alright. Just keep your voice down. Alright sweetie, momma’s here. I’m coming to get you.” She cooed, disappearing into the room, leaving Lance stunned it worked and a bit disturbed. Keith and Shiro definitely didn’t warn him about that.

A paper pulled itself from a fallen pile, a fountain pen following after it and floated to Lance.

“That is your contract. Sign it and I’ll put you to work.” Hagger stated, walking out of the room and flicking her hand away as the room put itself back in its rightful place.

“Uh, sign my name right here?” he asked, pointing to the end of the writing. It was a mix of hiragana and kanji, which Lance could never understand.

“Just sign it.” Hagger ordered, leaving Lance to try and find a hard surface to write on. “I can’t believe I made such an oath, to give a job to whoever asks. I’m becoming soft.” Hagger muttered, pulling on a rope attached to a bell. “Are you done?”

Hagger didn’t wait for an answer before the paper moved away from Lance and into her hands. Lance scrambled to his feet, wondering what was going to happen next.

“So, your name’s Lance? Quite an interesting name.” she waved her hand over it and Lance watched the Katakana lift itself from the page, some strokes changing completely before going back to the page, other firmly clasped in her hand. “And it’s mine now. From now on, your name will be Isamu understand? Answer me Isamu.”

“Uh, yes ma’am.” There was an odd feeling when he agreed to that.

“You called?” Lance looked over to the door he came flying from to see Keith standing in the doorway.

“This boy’s signed a contract, set him up with a job.”

“Yes ma’am. What’s your name?”

“Oh, uh La- I mean, it’s Isamu.”

“Alright then Isamu, follow me.”

“Oh Isamu, I would make sure you keep any complaints to yourself because if I hear one peep from you, you’ll be joining your family in the pig pen. Do I make myself clear?”

He was sure she’d change him for less. “Yes ma’am.” He bowed from his waist before following Keith out of the room. The doors were all opened and it didn’t take long for them to get back to the elevator. They were heading down when Lance looked over at Keith, who didn’t seem to be paying him any attention.

“Um, Keith?”

“Don’t talk to me. And address me as Master Keith. The other person waiting for us you are to call Master Shiro, understand?”

Lance couldn’t answer because he was too stunned at the switch in attitude. Was all that help, all the concern, all that reassurance, just a trick? Was this even the same Keith who tried to keep him calm the whole evening?

Shiro looked extremely serious when they met up with him. The idea that this had been a trick was growing in Lance’s head. He wasn’t sure how to feel about this. He followed them as they walked down the long flight of steps that went through the living dorms of all the workers. Lance could feel the eyes of everyone on him, hearing the whispers. It all seemed to blend together until he realised he was standing near his rescuers, or captors, as they stood in front of two men. They looked like Kolivan, but they didn’t have the different markings on their face and didn’t look as imposing, though they were obviously higher in work status from their better looking clothes.

“We don’t care what Hagger does to us.” The bigger of the two, with a lavender face with purple bat like ears said. “We’re not taking a human.”

“He’s already under contract.” Keith stated, causing more whispers to erupt.

“I promise to work very hard.” Lance said, looking at all the workers who hide their nose in their kimono sleeves or behind fans.

“We’re not taking him.” he heard one of the woman said. “He’ll stink up the whole place.” Lance tried not to feel insulted by that.

“Three days of eating our food and his smell will go away. And if he doesn’t work hard, roast him, boil him, do what you want. Now get back to work,” Shiro ordered, the workers following his orders immediately. “Where’s Hunk?”

“Huh?” Lance could see Hunk standing in a doorway, looking stunned. “Are you serious? You can’t dump him on me.”

“You said you wanted help.” Shiro said with a deadpan expression.

“I didn’t think you’d take me seriously!”

“Isamu, get going.” Keith ordered.

“Right.”

“Guys! Come on!” Hunk yelled at Keith and Shiro’s retreating backs.

“Have a nice day.” The other purple bat eared spirit said mockingly.

Hunk gave them a withering look and walked out before calling Lance to follow him. They walked down an empty hallway before Hunk stopped them by a balcony door.

“Ok I’m so sorry if you thought I didn’t like you cause that’s not true. Great Balmara, I can’t believe you actually did it. I was really worried. I guess it worked out that Shiro and Keith remembered I wanted help. Keep on your toes and if you need anything ask me ok? Hey,” the contained excitement Hunk had disappeared looking at the pained look on Lance’s face. “Hey, what’s wrong?”

“I don’t feel so good. I feel kinda dizzy.”

* * *

Hunk turned on the light, lighting the room. It was big, length wise than height wise, one person already curled up on their futon asleep.

“So this is our room. A bit of food and some sleep and you’ll be ok. Sleeping through the morning is actually really relaxing.” Hunk said, sliding open the door to the closet and digging around under duvets. “Ok uniform. Here are your pants, apron which you have to wash yourself. Hmm, now that I look at you, you’re pretty long. Are those pants gonna be ok for you?” Isamu unravelled the pants and held them by his legs for Hunk to see. “Oh, they’re fine. Hmm, I wonder if we can find a shirt that’s long enough for you.”

Isamu wrapped the pants up again, anxieties from the whole day weighing down on him. The biggest issue? “Hey Hunk?”

“Hmm? Uhh, too small.” Hunk said, dropping a white kimono shirt on the floor.

“You know Keith and Shiro pretty well right?”

“Yeah?”

“Um, there aren’t two of them, are there?”

“Two?” Hunk looked back at Lance in confusion, “I mean honestly, I can barely deal with one of them. They both work directly for Hagger. They look nice but I wouldn’t exactly trust what they say.”

Isamu was afraid of that. It just left him with more questions. They said they were his friends and that they could trust them. But the complete change in the way they acted confused him. If he couldn’t trust them, then what was he supposed to do?

Another twinge of pain sparked through him, making him feel sick to his stomach. He let himself drop down to the floor and curled himself over his knees, moaning in pain.

“Ah, found one. Here-Isamu? Hey, what’s wrong? Are you not feeling ok?” Isamu felt Hunk rub his hand against his back, trying to comfort him.

“What’s all the fuss about?” Isamu heard a sleepy voice say.

“It’s the new guy; he’s not feeling so well.” And he was wondering if he ever would.

As the sun started to rise, everything started to quiet down. Restaurants closed their doors and the lanterns dimmed out as everyone rested before getting up again at sunset to cater to the spirits visiting. At the bath house, all the workers were fast asleep and snoring, tired from a full night of working and their sudden surprise at the end of the work day.

Said surprise was wide awake though. Isamu’s body wouldn’t stop shaking. His body had been hurting all night, his face starting to itch half way through. Now that the pains were gone, all the thoughts from the night before came rushing in. was he tricked? If he was, what was he going to do? How was he going to save his family? Was it hopeless and he’d have to work while they got fattened up and eventually eaten? Had Keith and Shiro lied to him? Was this what they did, trick humans who hadn’t turned to work for Hagger so they’d break and she’d kill them. Was he really alone, this time for good? No kind white haired men to come and give him a family again?

All those thoughts came to a stop when he heard the door slid open. He stayed very still as he heard someone walking across the duvets, closing his eyes when they got close to him.

A hand rested on his shoulder as a familiar voice said, “meet us by the bridge. We’ll take you to your family.” And just like that, the hand disappeared and moments later he heard the door close.

He pushed himself up, looking at the door. Maybe, maybe they weren’t lying to him. Isamu picked up his white kimono shirt and quietly crawled over to the door. He needed answers and he needed to see Allura and Coran.


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Isamu remembers something and an interesting guest approaches the bath house

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I almost forgot to update today, college life. Once again, the pictures from the first 3 chapters were drawn by [lovecinnatwist](http://lovecinnatwist.tumblr.com), who kindly drew me pictures for this when my paired artist [shirussy](https://shirussy.tumblr.com/post/171609983109/once-we-met-i-never-forget-my-piece-for-the) computer thought it'd be a good idea to break day before posting. shirussy also drew a picture so defiantly check it out by clicking the link. Please go and reblog their work, do not copy it from here and repost it. They worked hard to do these so go and give them the praise they deserve.

Isamu slid open the door that led into the boiler room. He spotted Kolivan asleep on top of the same podium he would work on, his ears poking out from his duvet. He walked to the end of the genkan where he left his shoes but they were missing.

“Where did my shoes go?” he wondered out loud quietly when he heard something moving. It was the soot balls coming from their hutches, carrying his shoes. They had kept them safe the whole time. “thanks.” He pulled his ankle socks on before shoving his feet into his shoes before heading over to the door. As he opened it he heard the sounds of the soot balls chattering. He turned to see them jumping up and down as if to tell him goodbye.

This felt good. He had people he could trust after all. Hunk was one, and the soot balls loved him so he wouldn’t be surprised if Kolivan liked him too. And if he was sure, than Keith and Shiro were actually on his side as well.

Walking up the steps didn’t seem as scary as going down. Steep yes, but manageable. He poked his head out from the side gate that lead into the back garden, thankful that he didn’t see anyone still around. He closed the gate and approached the bridge before stopping. Isamu thought he was alone until he saw the same black spirit from yesterday. It mask looked like a face, but for some reason, he felt like wasn’t actually a face, even though the spirit seemed to be looking right at him. Taking a deep breath, he walked across, bowing his head in respect as he passed the spirit before running to the end. He looked back, put off with the disappearance of the spirit.

He turned back, gasping at the sight of Keith and Shiro. But they looked surprised themselves.

“You scared me.” They didn’t answer him, paying more attention to his face. Isamu put his hand up to face insecurely. “What? What is it?”

“Come here.” Keith grabbed him by the wrist and pulled him through the small garden they had walked through before they walked across the bridge the night before. Instead of going through the other gate, Keith pulled in to the side where a bird bath sat. “Look.”

Isamu looked at the water, using it as a mirror and still at his reflection. On his face right under his eyes were these blue triangles. Not only that, his hair was looking like it was fading into white with tints of blue in it.

“What the hell? Did the potion do this?”

“It was only supposed to give you the markings. I have no clue why it did this.” Shiro said, fingering strands of Isamu’s hair, trying to gauge if what he saw was real. He tilted his head slightly. “Your ears are also pointed.”

“What!?” Isamu yelled, his hand flying up to his ears to see Shiro was right; his ears were pointed like an elf’s.

“We’ll have to get a better look at it later. Come on.” Keith led them all down the pathway they had run through the night before. “You can’t be seen here or else Hagger will turn you into an animal. Don’t come here without us ok?”

“Yeah, I understand.”

He followed them down the hilly path to the pigpen. They walked over to one of the side entrances and Isamu saw a pair of pigs in the pen in front of the entrance. He knew those pigs. He looked over to Shiro who nodded, prompting him to run over.

“Coran! Allura! It’s me, Isamu.” For some reason saying the name out loud sounded odd, like it wasn’t right. “Coran! Allura! Wake up.” The two pigs ignored him, snoring away, making Isamu look at Shiro and Keith who walked closer to him. “Is there something wrong with them? Are they sick?”

“No, they just ate too much.” Shiro stated matter of factly, “they’re sleeping it off. Make sure and look hard though, because it’ll be up to you to try and pick them out when you can finally save them.”

Isamu looked back at the pigs that were what was left of his family. He lost his blood family and Alfor. He couldn’t lose them either.

“I’ll find a way to turn you guys back, so don’t get any fatter or I’ll eat you!” he yelled at the sleeping pigs, before running back the way he came, his eyes brimming with tears.

* * *

 

Keith and Shiro found him by the entrance of the flower maze that lead back to the small garden they went through by the bridge. They didn’t say anything at his appearance of his face pressed into his knees, only placing themselves next to him like they had the night before.

“Here.” The human pulled his face away to see Shiro handing him the clothes he came in. He was quick to take them, holding them close, like it was his last piece of reality.

“I thought they got thrown away.”

“You’ll need them when you head back. Keep them hidden.” Keith instructed as he kneeled next to him. He watched him pull his phone out of his jean pocket. “What’s that?”

“It’s called a cell phone. We use it to communicate with each other. See this?” Keith looked at the two coloured gems in the human’s hand. “The purple one belongs to Allura. They’re from a pair of earrings she had but she made them into matching phone charms. The blue one is from my best friend’s necklace. She gave it to me before I left and the chain it was on broke.”

“It looks like a Balmera crystal.” Shiro pointed out, watching as the phone light up. “What are you doing?”

“I was checking to see if it worked, and it does. I just unlocked it and the last thing up is Shay’s last message to me.” Blue eyes read over the message when it stopped at the last couple words. “Lance? Wait, I’m Lance. That’s my name.”

“Isamu is the name Hagger gave you after she took your name. You didn’t even realise the change did you?” Keith asked as Shiro crouched down next to Lance as well.

“No.” Lance answered, shaking his head. “I can’t believe I forgot my own name. No wonder it sounded strange to tell Coran and Allura my name was Isamu. She almost made me forget it.”

“If you forget it completely, you’ll have no hope of getting back home. Those who forget their names have no chance of finding their home again, forced to wander until they can get it again. We should know.” Keith muttered but Lance heard him.

“You guys don’t remember your names?”

“No, Shiro and Keith is the only thing we can remember but it’s no help. Besides, it’s giving us a chance to stay here and help you. Keep that phone hidden and make sure to answer to Isamu.” Shiro instructed.

Lance nodded, hitting the lock button and stuffing his phone back in his pocket, after pulling the phone charm jack out. He didn’t want to go any longer without it. Then he looked down at the canvas jacket that belonged to his brother. When it was up to him, Lance never went a day without wearing it.

“Here.” Lance looked over at Keith who held a small package of onigiri for Lance to take. “I don’t know if Hunk was able to get any food in you.”

Lance shook his head as he wrapped the sleeves of his shirt around his wrist so he could pull on the jacket. He felt better, though not by much. “I’m not hungry.”

“It has a spell on it so you can get your strength back.” Keith gently forced.

Lance took one to appease him but once he took a bite, he realised just how hungry he was. While he stuffed his face with the rice, everything that he had kept inside, all the events from yesterday, his fear, the tears he stopped when he saw Allura and Coran started to fall from his eyes and before he knew it, he was crying loudly, becoming a loud sniffling wailing mess. He felt an arm go around his shoulders before pulling him into a firm chest that he cried into, the hand slowly stroking his back in comfort.

“It’s ok. I know you had such a hard time but it’s ok now. You can let it all out.” Shiro said

Lance cried harder, like everything he had been keeping trapped could finally be released. He knew he must look like a mess and it was kinda embarrassing doing this in front of the two guys, but with what he had been through in the past day, Lance could care less. He took the comfort he was getting.

“It was so scary seeing them like that, turning into pigs. And then I-I almost disappeared and you guys had to leave me and it was terrifying going down those steps and I was so sure Hagger was going to kill me. I didn’t want to be here in the first place! If they just listened.” Lance let out.

“I know, I know. I’m sorry you had to go through most of that by yourself. And we’re sorry with how we acted last night. We couldn’t have Hagger finding out we were helping you. We’re sorry if we made you think you couldn’t trust us.” Shiro apologized

“I was so confused. I didn’t know what I was going to do. You guys are such assholes for making me think that!” Lance snapped. He wasn’t really angry, just still hurting from everything the night before.

“I know. We’re really sorry. If it makes you feel better, Keith was really sure you’d never want anything to do with us.”

“You’re lucky I don’t want that to happen.” Lance muttered into Shiro’s neck, but he guess they heard him judging from the small laugh Keith gave.

Feeling himself calm down significantly, he pulled himself away from Shiro, wiping away any stray tears.

Keith swiped at one he missed. “Do you feel a bit better?”

Lance nodded. “Can, uh, can I have another one?”

Keith lifted the package like a serving tray, “they’re all yours. Eat, it’ll make you feel better.”

Lance took another one and looked over at Shiro, cringing at the wet stain he left on Shiro’s shirt. “I’m really sorry about that.”

“Don’t be. You went through a lot and it’ll continue until you can find a way out of here.”

Lance fingered his hair. “Yeah, hopefully things go back when I do.”

“It is odd. That potion only should have given you the markings, but this is different. Much more different.” Keith said

“You’ve never took the potion before right? Or seen the effects of it?” Lanced asked, hoping for some sort of answer for what was happening to him.

Keith shook his head. “Altean spirits haven’t been seen here in over 10,000 years. They’re the only spirits known for walking amongst humans and can take a human form.”

“If you had Altean spirit blood in you, it would explain a lot.” Shiro thought out loud.

“Unless my mom never told me about that, I don’t think so. I’m Cuban, not Japanese.”

“I wish we knew, but unless we can get an answer, it’s something you’re going to have to deal with until you can get away.” Keith said, letting Lance take the last onigiri before wrapping the packaging up.

“Well, I told Hunk I was half when he asked. Kolivan was trying to send me away when Hunk came in and he lied, telling him I was his nephew. How did you know Hunk could be trusted?”

“We could smell him on you. No doubt you stuck close to him to be able to get up towards Hagger.” Shiro explained. He sniffed at Lance. “Did you come in contact with a radish spirit?”

“Yeah. He helped me get up when Hunk had to distract one of those frog looking workers. Why?”

“No reason, I’m just surprised that he didn’t raise the alarm. Not a lot of spirits really like him. I guess we should get to know him better.”

“He was really nice.” Lance said, stuffing the last of the rice into his mouth. He pulled his sleeves down on his jacket so they could cover his fingers.

“Your jacket…you seem extremely fond of it.” Keith pointed out.

“Oh yeah. It belonged to my brother. He gave it to me before…”

“Before you came to Japan?” Keith offered

Lance shook his head. “Before he and the rest of my family died.”

“Oh. Sorry.”

Lance gave him a small smile, “its ok. I mean, I hate that it happened but I guess in a way I was able to meet Allura and Coran. That’s why I didn’t want to leave and come to Japan. Allura’s dad paid for their funeral and he disappeared suddenly, so I didn’t want to leave my last connection to them. This jacket, when my family was leaving, I was going to go with them but I was really sick. My brother left his jacket with me, telling me I’ll be safe with it.”

“Then we’ll make sure and honour your brother by making sure your safe just like he promised.” Shiro said.

Lance had a feeling that his brother would be happy that he was being protected by these two.

* * *

 

“We have to go on a mission but it shouldn’t take long. But be careful until we get back ok?” Shiro instructed as he opened the gate by the bridge for Lance.

“So I can cause mayhem after you get back?” Lance felt glad that he was able to feel so comfortable around Keith and Shiro, enough to fall back into his usual actions.

“Very funny. Don’t do something that will blow up the bath house ok?” Keith said.

“I’ll try my hardest. Be careful ok? And I never actually thanked you guys for helping me. It’s really good to know I have people in my corner. Well, other than Hunk and Kolivan.”

“We’re glad to help. Head back in ok?” Shiro said.

“Ok. See you soon.” Lance said before going over the bridge. He turned to wave to them once more when he spotted two traditional dragons in the air and no Keith and Shiro in sight. “They’re dragons?” Lance watched them fly off until he couldn’t see them anymore and went through the gate, not seeing the black spirit appearing for a moment.

Lance barely remembered heading back down the stairs but he felt so tired as he was taking his shoes off, that he collapsed on one of the pillows that seat by the low sitting table in the boiler room. He remembered waking up for a moment when he felt something rest on top of him and looked to see Kolivan resting a spare blanket on top of him. He noticed some of the soot balls had climbed up on Kolivan’s shoulders to look at him.

“Go back to sleep. I’ll wake you up when it’s time to head to work.” The Galra spirit said, petting at Lance’s head. It felt nice, like one of his siblings or his parents would do to try and cox him to sleep.

* * *

 

Like he promised, Lance was woken up and after promising that the soot balls would take care of his things, Kolivan sent Lance upstairs, but not before Lance asked for something.

“Cord? What for?”

“These.” Lance said, holding up the two charms still attached to the charm jack it was dangling from. “They’re my good luck charms and I feel a lot better with them with me.”

“Is that a Balmera crystal?” Kolivan asked, while the shadow hands pulled open a drawer on the dresser that stood next to the platform he’d work from.

“I guess? My best friend gave it to me and it belonged to her grandmother so I don’t know where it came from.”

The shadow hand deposited a ball of leather cord into Kolivan’s hand and he used his claws to help cut a length and handed it over to Lance, watching him string it through the rings. “Keep them hidden. Even spirits would like those. Also, nice hair.”

Lance groaned, running his hands through it. He had no clue how much it changed since he slept for longer. “It was starting to fade into white when I was awake earlier. How much worse is it?”

“You’ve got a circle of brown left and not a big one. It’s a good look for you.” He teased, making Lance pout at him before telling him good bye.

Hunk looked relieved when he saw him. He was putting futons into the closet and Lance ran over to help.

“There you are. Where did you go, I got worried.”

“Sorry. I couldn’t sleep so I went down to see Kolivan. I talked to the soot balls and started feeling tired so Kolivan said I could stay there until everyone woke up.” Lance said, handing Hunk a pile of folded futons and duvets.

“Alright, but tell me next time ok?”

Once the room was cleared of futons, Hunk led Lance downstairs to where they were scheduled to work. He showed Lance were to find his name to clock in, Lance finding it odd to see Isamu. He still couldn’t believe he almost forgot his name. But he had something bigger to worry about. The whole building was styled like a traditional Japanese style, which meant it was cleaned the same way, by hand. And that included the floor.

He had no clue how Hunk and the other workers could move in formation, letting the wet cloth guide them up and down the floor. Lance kept slipping and couldn’t even keep up. The workers pulled their pants legs up and used a long white sash to tie back their sleeves, but Lance felt like all it was doing was exposing more skin for him to hurt himself on.

“Um Isamu, you have worked before right?” Hunk asked as Lance twisted water out of his rag.

Had he? When he was a kid he had the small chores of cleaning his room and helping with dishes when his mom asked. Alfor and Coran took care of that stuff when he was adopted and Coran continued to do it even after Alfor left. Lance couldn’t remember the times he offered to help, even though he would sit near Coran whenever he was working. God, he was lazy wasn’t he?

The Glara looking spirit from yesterday walked over to the two of them.

“Hunk.”

“Yes esteemed master Morvok?” Hunk sassed, not looking like he enjoyed being in Morvok’s presence.

“Watch it mister. You and your assistant get the big tub today.”

“What? No way, that’s frog work! If it’s to get me back for my attitude last week, you deserved it.”

“As tempted as I am, its orders from the top so don’t complain.” He ordered before walking off, leaving Hunk groaning in annoyance.

“I can’t believe this. They did this on purpose.” Hunk sighed. “Ok, let’s finish as quickly as possible. We got a tub to clean. When we’re done, can you go empty the water outside?”

“Sure.” Even with the amount to times he fell, they were able to finish and while Hunk went to get the supplies to clean the tub, Lance carried the pail to the closest sliding door that lead to the garden. He wasn’t sure how he missed it, but it was pouring rain outside. Lance liked the rain a lot.

_‘If I’m lucky, maybe when we finish, I can watch it.’_ Lance thought as he opened the door and poured the water outside. Then he noticed a figure in the back of the garden. It was the tall, black spirit with the mask that looked like a face.

“Hello? Aren’t you getting wet out there? You should come in.” the spirit didn’t move and Lance heard Hunk call for him. “I’ll leave the door open for you. Hunk, I’m coming!” Lance yelled.

As he headed back to where Hunk was, he didn’t see the spirit come in before disappearing again.

Lance followed Hunk who looked pretty annoyed at where they were heading.

“Hey Hunk, heard you got the big tub!” another worker called from their tub they were cleaning.

“Leave me alone.” Hunk muttered

Hunk led him to the last bathing area. The tub was gigantic but the area was also so messy. It was covered in what looked like leaves and he could smell something coming from the tub.

“Those jerks. They haven’t cleaned this tub in months and will you guys go away!” Hunk turned and glared at the frog workers who had been mocking them behind their backs. They were quick to take off after they saw Hunk’s glare. “Ugg, come on.” Lance stepped down onto the dirty floor and immediately fell to the floor. He groaned and picked himself up as he heard the laughter of the people watching them.

Cleaning the floor involved Hunk sweeping it all up, Lance carrying piles of it. When they got into the tub, Lance tried not to gag at the amount of muck and gunk stuck to the walls.

“How did it get like this?” Lance asked as they scrubbed hard at the walls.

“We only use this tub for our really filthy guests. It doesn’t happen often so the muck from when they’re here gets caked on. It’s disgusting honestly.”

“I’m sure the only reason we’re doing this is because of me.” Lance pointed out.

“Or I just really pissed off Morvok. All I know is all this mess is going to turn your hair back to brown.” He teased

“No.” Lance moaned.

“Hunk! Isamu! You’ve got guests coming!” Morvok called.

“Oh, this isn’t fair! This is harassment!” Hunk complained, throwing his sponge down. “I’m all for doing my own work but we can’t do this. We’re going to soak it off.” Hunk gave Lance a boost to climb out of the tub. “Go get an herbal soak token from the foreman.”

“Herbal soak-WOAH!” Lance yelled as he lost his balance and fell. “Ow.”

“Are you ok?”

“Yeah.” Lance groaned, rubbing his head, “what am I getting from whom?”

“Herbal soak token from the foreman Varkon.”

“Right. Hunk, who the hell is Varkon and where is he?”

* * *

 

Hagger sat in her office, looking at a gem through a jeweller’s loupe when she looked up, like she sensed something.

“Something’s coming.” She cleared up all the gems she had been looking over and after securing them in her desk she went over and opened the window, looking out into the rain, where she could see some lights from restaurants turn off. “What scum is sleeking through the rain?”

All the restaurants closed their door and shut off their lights as a large muck covered and smelly creature walked through the streets. It’s destination? The bath house.


	6. Chapter 6

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lance gains the respect of the bath house...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So this is gonna sound really weird, maybe a bit conceited but I got my first comments on this story after my last update. Comments mean a lot to us writers and when I didn't get any for the past 4 chapters, I was panicking that no one liked my story. Those two comments meant the world because it was evidence people did like it. So thank you for those comments. Seriously guys, just the smallest comment makes writers really happy, trust me on that, so leave a comment.

“I can’t waste a token on you. Relax, good morning.” Varkon said, greeting a guest, handing one of the red tokens Lance recognised from when he first meet Kolivan to the woman who was with him. He guessed that she was in charge of bathing the guest. “Good morning. Scrub the tub yourself.” He directed to Lance.

“Uh, but I was told that it has to have an herbal soak.”

“Well, that’s just too bad.” Varkon said, not looking like he was sympathetic.

“For the radish spirit.” Another woman came over.

“One sulphur soak. Hello, good morning. What are you still doing here? Go scrub it yourself!”

Lance had no clue what to say. Varkon honestly didn’t look intimidating at all. He reminded Lance of Paul Bart the mall cop, if he was a purple skinned spirit. He tried coming up with something when he noticed something appearing out of thin air. It was the black spirit. It bowed its head to him and when Lance did the same, it disappeared again just when Varkon turned to see what Lance was looking at. Thankfully before he could ask, the phone rang and Varkon answered.

“Forman Varkon speaking. Ah, yes ma’am, I-HEY!” one of the tokens lifted from where it sat in its pile on the desk Varkon sat behind and dodged his hand as it landed in Lance’s.

“Oh, thank you.” Lance thanked, taking off back to the tub before Varkon could do anything.

“Hey, get back here dagnabit!”

_“What is going on down there?”_ Hagger yelled through the phone.

“Ah, nothing, nothing.”

_“We have an intruder.”_

“Is it a human?” Varkon asked.

_“I don’t know, find out and get back to me.”_

* * *

 

“Wow Isamu, this is a really good one. I was worried that Varkon wouldn’t give it to you to spit you. Nice work.” Hunk said as he stood in front of an open hidden door. Lance hadn’t even seen it as it blended in with the painted scenery on the wall. “Alright, so when you get a token, attach the end of it to this clip and when it’s on, pull and let go.” Hunk instructed as he clipped the token onto a rope. Lance had seen that rope when Kolivan had gotten the bath tokens. He guessed what Hunk was going to say next. “The token goes to Kolivan and he delivers the water to us.” Another hidden panel came falling out of the wall, with a rope attached to it. It hung right over the tub and as Lance followed Hunk over, he realised it looked like a pipe. “Pull on the rope to get the water flowing. Try it.”

Lance followed Hunk up to the top of the tub, Hunk having no problem balancing himself. Lance felt safe put as he grabbed the rope he felt off balance and would of gone toppling off if he wasn’t save by the rope. His weight started the flow and water came rushing out and into the tub. There was a particular smell coming from the water but it was nothing like the Lush bath bombs he and Allura would use.

“You are really clumsy. Please don’t hurt yourself on your first day.”

“Well I’ve never had to climb on top of a bath for spirits. What’s in this water, it smells weird.”

“Dried worm salts. It’s supposed to be good for you and with water this murky, you can’t see the sludge. Once it’s full we’ll leave it for a while and we can empty it and hopefully it won’t be hard to scrub off.” Hunk climbed down from the tub and said, “Pull the rope again when it’s full and you can let the rope go, I think your balance is good now. I’ll go get us breakfast ok?”

“Ok.” Lance answered, prompting Hunk to leave. Lance decided to trust Hunk’s judgment and let go of the rope, happy to see he was right. “If this is the last thing we have to do in here, then I can clean up the other stuff.” Lance thought out loud, turning to get down when he saw a familiar spirit. The black spirit was in the corner of the room near the entrance. Lance was about to say something when his balance decided to leave him again. He went sliding down the tub and hit his head. “Ow! Ah! Oh come on, this isn’t even fair. Ow…” Lance moaned when he realised the spirit was near him. “Oh, um, sir the bath isn’t ready yet.

The spirit didn’t say anything; it just held its hands out. In its hands were many bath tokens. It made a kind of grunting sound, like he was trying to entice Lance.

“They’re so many. Are they all for me?” the spirit nodded, pushing the handful of tokens to him. “Thanks but I don’t need it. I mean, thanks but I only needed that one.” Even though the spirit didn’t have a face, Lance could tell that what he said upset him and disappeared again before Lance’s eyes, the bath token crashing to the floor. Then he heard the very familiar sound of water overflowing. “Oh quiznak!”

* * *

 

Hagger ran down the steps and to the entrance of the bath house, people moving out of the way to let her past. She stopped right where Varkon stood with other concerned workers.

“It’s a stink spirit.” Hagger said, talking about the thing approaching the bath house.

“And apparently, it’s an extra stinky one.”

A frog worker came running in, looking panicked, “he’s headed right for the bridge!”

“Give it an offering and turn him away, now! Varkon, get out there now!”

“Yes ma’am.”

Everyone could hear the begging and calls for the spirit to turn around because they weren’t open. Hagger narrowed her eyes when she realised the spirit wasn’t listening, and wanting to get in.

“Something about this doesn’t seem like a stink spirit. But we have no choice, go greet him. Just give him a bath and get him out of here. Send all other guest back to their rooms and get a worker for me.”

* * *

 

Lance had just used the broom to push the water to the drain when he heard one of the workers yell for all guests to go back to their rooms. What was going on? Lance peeked his head out, seeing some spirits run out of their bath areas, pulling on their kimonos and other workers running out as well.

“Isamu,” Varkon came running over, “Hagger wants to see you.”

“Yes sir.” Lance had a feeling he wouldn’t like this.

And boy, was he right.

“Don’t mess this up Isamu, I want you to take this guest into the big tub and take care of him.”

“But…” he had never been to a bath house. How was he supposed to take care of a guest? Was he supposed to wash him himself?

“No buts, or I turn you into coal, got it?”

Right, he couldn’t complain. He would just have to hope the spirit was nice enough to tell him what to it.

“He’s here.” Varkon gasped, running back to his post, other workers running in as well and before he knew it, the genkan was empty of every except him and Hagger.

First Lance smelled it. It was horrible. Take months of trash build up, add used kitty litter and horse manure and let it bake in the sun. It was like that but ten times worse. Lance was quick to cover his nose with his hands and while Hagger didn’t he had a feeling she really wanted to judging from her stiff body.

“Put your hands down, you’ll insult our guest.”

Then he saw it. This brown, guk looking stump moved the noren out of the way, the blue cloth becoming stained with whatever secretion was on the monster. It was pretty big and seemed to be dripping in the layers of the muck, with little tendrils poking from it, like hands. Lance also say it was secreting this purple liquid that didn’t move and looked gag worthy. To be honest, if Lance wasn’t scared for what Hagger would do to him if he even thought about it, he would of already.

“Oh look, a valued customer, welcome to our baths.” Lance saw one of the hand like tendrils reach out towards them. “What? Oh, money. Isamu, take the nice customers money.”

“Yes ma’am.” Very stiffly, Lance walked closer, holding his hand out. The spirit dropped whatever the payment was in his hand, along with a glob of whatever it was made of. Lance had a full body shivering experience, while also trying to keep down the onigiri Keith had given him that morning.

“Don’t keep him wait, take him to the bath.” Hagger instructed, pushing herself into a corner as the purple ozz started to fill the genkan.

“This way.” Lance said walking to the tub. He suddenly remembered that he and Hunk hadn’t even cleaned the tub properly.

_‘I hope that with how dirty this guy is, it won’t matter.’_

While Lance led the stink spirit to the big tub, Hunk with their breakfast pushed through the crowd.

“Ugg, what is that smell? Huh, Isamu!” Hunk called, curling in on himself with the smell wafting through the room. It was so bad that their food actually rotted in Hunk’s hands. That answered his question; he wasn’t leaving Lance with that thing.

* * *

 

“Open the windows, all of them!” Hagger ordered as she leaned over the railing of the passage way of the top floor. From her place she could see Lance leading the stink spirit in.

It climbed into the bath, causing water to overflow and turn into muck like mud. Lance grabbed the pail of bath tokens the other spirit left when he was hit with the wave of mud making him stumble. All those jokes Hunk made about the cleaning dirtying his hair were certainly coming true; he could feel the guck dripping from his hair.

Hagger cackled, “Disgusting.”

“I really don’t think it’s that funny.” Morvok said, his face covered with a white cloth.

The spirit looked upset at the fact its hands were covered in the muck and turned over to where Lance was struggling to stand up and let out a groan. Lance looked at him and then down at the pail in his hand.

“Just a second sir.” Lance was speculating here, but a stink spirit had to come to a bath house to get clean right? So maybe he needed more water. “Now where is the opening?” it took longer than Lance would have liked but he could see the seam of the door that hid the rope for the bath token. Opening the actual door was much harder though, which required another klutz moment of banging on where the door was so hard, he was hit in the head with it when it finally swung open. “My family are pigs, my entire appearance is changing and I seem to have worst luck than usual. Keith and Shiro better get me out of here quick.” Lance muttered under his breath as he tried clipping the bath token to the rope. He was able to get it on and the pipe lowered itself above the spirit. Trudging through the pool of mud, Lance reached the tub where the spirit stared down at him as he somehow climbed up the tub, even with all the mud and guck on it. The wave of bad breath wasn’t something he appreciated very much as a thank you, but he guessed neither was the mud that caused him to slip into the tub as he tugged on the rope to start the water.

All the workers and guests who were watching the events happening watched the water pour down onto the spirit, Lance not appearing.

“That’s our best herbal formula! And he’s wasting all our good water!”

Morvok could complain all he wanted while Lance was stuck in a mixture of the guck and the sludge that was left over, struggling to get out when a tendril like hand pulled him out and above water. Lance coughed any water that was left in his lungs out when he realised the spirit was pulling Lance close to him, like it was trying to show him something. A bit hesitantly, Lance stuck his hand under the waterfall that covered the spirit and he felt himself being pulled closer until his hand brushed against something sticking out of its side, like a thorn.

“Isamu! Isamu, where are you?” Lance looked over to see Hunk with a cloth over his nose and mouth, holding onto a broom like he was going to war.

“I’m over here!” Lance called.

“I’m coming over to help you ok? He’s not going to hurt you ok, I won’t let him.”

Lance took a moment to appreciate Hunk. Ever since they met, he didn’t have to help Lance at all, but he did and Lance would be forever grateful. It felt like he was around Shay again.

“I know he’s not going to hurt me. He needs help. I think he’s got a thorn stuck in his side.”

“A thorn?” Hunk said, climbing up next to Lance and helped him try and pull it out. “It won’t budge. But how did a stink spirit get a thorn stuck in him? I thought most things slid off of them.”

“A thorn in his side?” Hagger said, hearing what the two workers said. Hunk was right, stink spirits would slide whatever got stuck on them off. She had a feeling she was right. “Get the staff down there.” She ordered before jumping over the railing and landing on the partition that separated the baths. “That’s no stink spirit we have on our hands.” She clapped her hands together, a long length of rope appearing from her hands. “Tie this to the end.” She instructed throwing one end to them.

Lance tired tying the rope on himself but it kept slipping and Hunk wrapped the rope around the thorn. “Ok, we go it!” he could hear Morvok yell at the workers to grab the other end of the rope.

“Everyone on my command. And Heave!” Lance started tugging at the rope, all the other worker following with him. He felt like he was at his school’s homecoming pep rally, where the juniors went against the seniors in tug of war. The thorn started moving out and then out popped the front of a bicycle. “Thought so. Get ready now, heave!”

Lance grabbed the front wheel of the bike and yanked even harder and with a sudden tug from everyone, the bike came popping out and with it piles and piles of trash. The sudden appearance knocked Hagger off her perch and while Lance somehow was able to stay on the tub, Hunk had to go rushing off to the entrance of the bath in order not to get crushed by the piles of old rusted garbage. Lance looked at it and was reminded of when he visited Japan with his parents; one of the rivers was filled with garbage and trash that people had left in it. He noticed that at the top of the closest pile was a fishing rod and its line was still in the waterfall. Once Lance tugged it out, like a cork popping off of a champagne bottle, purple gas blow out and the shape descended as all that water came rushing out of the tub. Lance let out a yelp as water wrapped around him, keeping him standing on the edge. And he could breathe in the water when he saw a face poke its head out from the water. It was old and wrinkled with a grey moustache and beard and his jaw was detached from the rest of his face.

“Well done.” An old raspy voice said before the whole head disappeared and the water around him slowly fell away. Lance noticed that his hands were clenching around something and he opened it to see a green ball. It was firm to the touch but still soft enough that Lance could easily break it if he wanted. The word ‘medicine’ reverberated in his head at the sight of it.

“Gold! It’s gold!”

“Wait, that’s company property!”

Lance looked over his shoulder to see that as the water was drained out of the room, small specks of gold were popping out. He guessed he wasn’t the only one getting paid.

“Quiet you fools! Can’t you see our guest is still here?” Hagger said. As she said that the left over water in the tub started bubbling unnaturally. “Isamu, you’re in our guest’s way. Open the main gates!”

A loud rebounding laugh, not terrifying in anyway, sounded through the whole bath house as what looked like a dragon, with the face Lance had saw and the body the same colour as the water burst from the tub. With a quick twist around a sky walkway, it went flying out the large red doors on the upper level. It was once the spirit was out that everyone noticed that all the guests were cheering for them. He guessed it wasn’t everyday a stink spirit turned out to be another kind in need of help.

“Isamu, are you ok?” Hunk asked, running over.

“I’m fine. He didn’t hurt me. Hey, thanks for coming after me, it feels really good to know I have you in my corner.”

“Well it’s not just me, but I’m glad you think so.”

“Isamu!” Lance turned around and was greeted with Hagger slamming into him as she hugged him. Lance felt so incredibly awkward. “Oh, we made so much money. That was a powerful river spirit.” So the dragon form was for river spirits. That meant Shiro and Keith were river spirits weren’t they? “Everyone learn from Isamu and sake is on the house tonight.” Everyone cheered when Hagger continued, “but first hand over all the gold you picked up.” This led to an entire group of workers to complain loudly.

While this happened, the black spirit appeared for only a moment, taking in the scene before disappearing.

Lance tugged at Hagger’s cloak. “Do you think I can get a bath and a new uniform instead of sake, I’m not of drinking age.”

“Hey Isamu. Did you know your hair is way whiter now? You can see the blue more.” Hunk pointed out.

“All the more reason to get this washed. You did you see what that spirit was covered in? This hair doesn’t stay this soft by water alone. And that wasn’t me complaining.” Lance directed to Hagger.

“Fine, that’s more alcohol for me. Now hand it over and clean up this mess!”


	7. Chapter 7

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A spirit takes over the bath house...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ....So I forgot to update yesterday. Oops. Anyway, you guys did ask me if this is gonna follow the movie completely, yes and no. I hope you guys haven't forgotten Lance's appearance changes, that's a big things that's going to be explored. Trust me, I tried not to make a full play by play, so I hope these next chapters fit that and that you enjoy.

Lance looked out into the view that they could see from their room. After he was finished with his bath – which included face products, Lance almost cried at the sight – Lance saw that in the span of when he woke up, his hair was whiter than before. Hunk wasn’t lying. He was curious though, how on earth did his hair turn like this in the span of a day and why was it even happening? All he knew was that he wanted Shiro and Keith to come back now.

“Hey, feeling clean?” Hunk came up, sitting down next to Lance holding a plate of what looked like large baos. He guessed they were Japanese styled buns.

“Yeah, I saw my hair has pretty much lost all its brown colour. Which is really worrying.”

“You’re not really half Altean are you? Or at least, you don’t have knowledge.” Hunk asked matter of factly. Lance looked surprised but Hunk just shrugged. “I know Altean Spirits haven’t been seen for 10,000 years and all that, but your way of working around the spirit world is a bit well, you look like a new born deer. Don’t worry, I’m not going to tell anyone but trust me a bit more ok? Pork bun?”

Lance took one, still looking at Hunk. Hunk had known that Lance wasn’t from this world, not even a bit, but he still didn’t do anything to make Lance feel like he was in danger around him. Hunk had been looking out for him since day one. Both him and Kolivan.

“Thanks. I guess I haven’t been really observant on how much you’ve been risking to help me. Thank you.”

“Your welcome.” Hunk said, giving him a smile before lying down and propping himself up with his elbow as he grabbed one of the other buns on the plate. “I should be thanking you to though; you certainly have made things interesting since you got here. If you didn’t help that river spirit, he could have been wandering for who knows how long with all that stuff in him.”

“Yeah, guess I could be happy that Hagger was picking on me.” Lance said as he pulled the medicine from his shirt and looked at it again. He could use it to save his family, turning them back. But there was still something he wanted to see. “Hey Hunk, have you seen Keith and Shiro?”

“Those two? Why are you so interested in them? You know those two work directly for Hagger? I’ve heard that they go around doing her dirty work.”

“You seemed to trust them. I mean they sent me to work with you right?”

Hunk shrugged as he grabbed the last bun. “I mean, they could have smelled you on me, though the whole the bath house smelt like human so…”

“Again with the scent. I don’t smell that bad, do I?”

“No, it’s just the scent of a human is really distinct. Some spirits don’t like it but Balmaran spirits have been known to interact with humans so it doesn’t bother me. Your scent is disappearing though.”

Lance wasn’t sure how he felt about that comment but he decided to focus on what Hunk told him. Shiro and Keith did missions for Hagger. Who know what she would send them to do. He wondered if she could tell they helped him and tried to keep them away to control Lance better.

_‘It’s weird. I’ve only really known them about a day and a half but I miss them as much as I do Allura and Coran. How is that even possible? Did I bond and trust them that quickly that they mean a lot to me now? I just want to know if they’re ok.’_

Lance watched as the same train that distracted him in the beginning of this whole adventure went along its tracks. The amount of water had risen up making the area beneath them look like a sea but the train wasn’t affected by it, as the tracks were only just covered enough that you couldn’t see them without the train’s bright lights.

“It’s like a sea.” Lance mindlessly pointed out, but it seemed like Hunk heard him.

“What do you expect after all the rain?” he sighed woefully, “I need to get on that train. I was able to keep a bit of the gold the spirit paid us but I still need a bit more to pay off my contract.”

“Contract?”

“Oh right. I didn’t tell you yesterday. Well I guess after all we’ve been through I can tell you.” Hunk said, turning so he was laying on his front.

Lance had moved so his legs that were dangling off the edge were now crossed so he could face Hunk.

“I came here, because it’s the closest gate to the human world. I wanted to go to all the different places that the Balmera crystals form. I was the oldest amongst all of us at my village and they wanted me to stay but I had been doing what they wanted for so long, I wanted to do something for myself. Then, I got lost so I came here and somehow wound up working here. Once I remembered my name, cause that’s how you can be forced by Hagger, I went to her to ask for my contract to be stopped. She said she would if I pay back all my pay checks I was given. Now I have to pay her back so I can finally get out of my contract, but since I don’t work with guests very often, I almost never get paid in tips to pay it back.”

Hunk was trapped here. Like Keith and Shiro, even Kolivan if the ‘slave to the boiler’ comment meant something. But he didn’t seem bitter or angry at everything. It blew him away just how much Hunk was risking helping him. If he got caught, Hunk could face consequences.

“Hunk….” What could he say? ‘Thank you’ suddenly didn’t seem like enough.

“It’s ok. I mean yeah I could get in trouble if they find out I helped you but honestly, you seemed pretty scared when I meet you and I don’t regret helping you. I’m glad I got to meet you.”

Lance felt his eyes stinging. Hunk was something else and Lance was sure that he couldn’t ever find someone as selfless as him. Well, except maybe Shay.

Hunk’s eyes drifted to the blue crystal that hung from the cord around Lance’s neck.

“Is that a Balmearn crystal?”

Lance looked down at the two crystals. He didn’t even really notice that they were hanging in front of his shirt. “Uhh, I don’t know. My best friend gave it to me before I came here. It belonged to her grandmother so I don’t know where it’s from.”

“Wow, I haven’t seen one in so long, I almost forgot what they looked like. Hagger uses them in her spells and stuff, so make sure she doesn’t see that.”

“I’ll make sure. Um, did you want to see it?”

“Really?” Hunk asked

It wasn’t much to repay Hunk but it was the least he could do. “Sure, the cord’s rubbing really hard against my neck anyway.”

While Hunk was gazing at the blue crystal held gently in his hands, Lance looked at the medicine in his hands again. He had never seen anything like it, the green ball. It was firm to the touch and when he sniffed it, he wasn’t greeted with any distinct smell. He bit a small piece off, and his entire body stiffened at the bitter, foul taste. It tasted like one of Coran’s bad attempts at food. He moaned, keeping his pained and disgusted noises clenched shut before stuffing his mouth with the bun hoping to get rid of the taste.

“Are you ok?” Hunk asked, but he didn’t really get an answer, leaving him to tilt his head at the sight of Lance stuffing his face.

* * *

 

As all the guests and workers in the bath house slept until the sun would sink again, no one saw the small horned creature known as Klaizap sneaking through the halls. The same spirit who surprised Lance into taking a breath took light steps as he went to the area of the most activity the bath house had ever seen, the big tub. Klaizap, like the other workers, was pretty annoyed that Hagger took all the gold that essentially had been paid to them. So while everyone slept and Hagger wasn’t around hoarding all the gold she laid her eyes on, he decided to sneak into the big tub and try and find any small bits of gold that would have gotten stuck in the floorboards.

The big tub had been blocked off as a holy place, an offering set out to honour the river spirit that came. He turned on the light and ducked under the rope, quickly getting to work. He didn’t notice the tall black spirit rising from inside the bath, looking at Klaizap. Klaizap didn’t even notice him until a nugget of gold came falling out of nowhere.

“Ah! It’s gold!” that when he noticed the masked spirit standing in the tub. “Hey! What are you doing in there? Get out you.” All the spirit did was lift its hand up, letting two more nuggets fall from his hand. “Ah, it’s real gold. You can make it?” more gold appeared in its hand, as it shook it, trying to tantalize Klaizap closer. “You’re going to give it to me? Sure!” he quickly climbed up to the side of the tub until he was high enough to start grabbing the gold from its hand.

Suddenly, the fingers that had been holding and creating gold, wrapped around Klaizap’s neck and before he knew it, the spirt swallowed him, his screaming becoming muffled.

“What is going on?” Varkon, had been doing his last checks, with Hagger leaving from bath house and Keith and Shiro not there to do their mistress’s job. He was sure he could go to bed when he heard some commotion coming from the tubs. “It’s past bed time.” He poked his head into the big tub and didn’t see anything until he heard a voice.

“Hey, up here.” Perched on the wall of the partition sat the spirit. It looked different, with arms and legs that were usually hidden in its cloak like body and its head held tawny locks. “I’m hungry, starving. And I want you to serve me.”

“I know that voice.” Varkon said out loud but his attention was pulled away at the gold started to pour down on him.

“Here, and I want a bath. So how about you wake everyone up?”

* * *

 

He had to go and give it to them, now. Lance didn’t know how he got there but he was running through the large walls of flowers that would lead him to the pig pen. He was sure he was forgetting something about this place, but he couldn’t remember. Before he knew it, he reached the pig pen and stopped in front of the pen Allura and Coran had been in. Where were they?

“Allura, Coran. I have medicine from the river spirit, it might turn you back.” All the pigs heard him, raising their heads and turning to Lance before they all came to the gate of their pen, struggling to get closer to him, leaving Lance to raise his hand above his head to try and save the medicine. “Coran! Allura! Which ones are you?”

Why couldn’t he tell? He had been able to tell before. What was happening?

Lance’s eyes jolted open, a gasp escaping his lips. Where was he? Wasn’t he at the pig pen? He felt the plush futon under him and sighed.

“It was just a dream.” Of course, he knew not to go to the pig pen by himself, Keith and Shiro told him not to, and they knew better than he did. He rubbed at his face, trying to remove that dream from his mind. He still remembered what they looked like, but the thought of forgetting…Lance didn’t want to think of that. “Hey Hunk, you-huh?”

Hunk told him to wake him up if he was going to leave suddenly but Lance was pretty sure that was a two way street. In fact, the whole room was completely empty, the duvets shoved aside or hastily thrown back on the futons.

“Where is everyone?” Lance asked out loud, grabbing his kimono shirt, making sure his necklace was hidden and the medicine sitting in between his shirts. He slid open the door to be greeting by blue waters. It looked like the water hadn’t lessened in the time Lance had slept, truly making it look like an ocean. Lance leaned over the railing to look at the tall metal chimney that was spitting out smoke. “Kolivan started the fires already? How long have I been asleep? Isn’t it way too early?” Lance rushed downstairs to try and find answers and was greeted with something else.

The whole bath house was alive with workers, running around, carrying around large platters of food, speaking loudly and full of excitement. Orders were being thrown around, told to bring it to ‘him’? A guest? But what guest would cause the entire bath house to be up before hours? He knew Hagger was kinda horrible but even Hunk agreed she didn’t work them ragged.

“Isamu. I was just coming to wake you.” Hunk ran over, stopping in front of him under the step he was on. “I would have woken you up with the rest of us but you went through a lot, so I wanted to let you rest for now.”

“Thanks. Uh, what’s going on? Why’s everyone awake?”

“It’s a new guest and look.” Hunk held up a nugget of gold between his nails. “It’s real gold. The guest is loaded.”

“Who’s the guest?”

“Actually, I don’t really know. But I can finally get enough to pay back by contract and after you’re all taken care, I can leave.”

“Taken care of?”

“Well yeah, your family is still here right? I thought you’d try and turn them back so you could leave. I’m not paying my contract back until I know you’ll be ok.”

Now Lance felt even worse that he didn’t realise just how much Hunk looked out for him. He’d have to make sure and ask Keith and Shiro if there was any way to help Hunk.

“Come on, let’s go before Hagger wakes up.” Hunk said, gesturing down back to where the baths were. Lance wanted to go, to at least stick close to Hunk, but there was this feeling like he shouldn’t, like if he did he’d miss something important. “Isamu? Are you ok?”

“Uh, actually, I’m gonna look for Shiro and Keith. I just have a feeling.”

“Those two again? Isamu are you sure?”

Lance nodded. “Yeah, you go ahead, come find me if anything interesting happens ok? If I find them, I’ll make sure they don’t say anything to Hagger.”

Hunk looked unsure, but nodded none the less. “Alright. If that’s what you want. Just be careful ok? None of the other guests are up I think and I’d hate for you to get unwanted attention after last night.”

“I’ll be fine. Don’t worry.” He watched as Hunk giving him one last looked, went back downstairs when three other workers caught his attention as they all headed back to where the mystery guest no doubt was.

Now alone, Lance needed to think. He didn’t know why he needed to go back to the rooms but it was a really big feeling that it was important. He walked back up all the stairs until he was walking on the wrap around balcony gazing out to the ocean and the building in the distance to what he knew as the pig pen. Crossing his arms, he leaned against the railing and looked out into the distance trying to think. He knew the two had said they’d only be gone for a while, but he felt like they should have been back by now.

“Maybe I’m really obsessed with them. I know they’re probably fine, but still. I hope they get back before I _actually_ forget what Allura and Coran look like.” Lance closed his eyes and listened to the waves of the water below. It reminded him of when his family was still alive and they would go to the beach. Lance loved the beach but he loved listening to the sounds of the waves the most.

“The waves know everything _mijo_. It’ll tell you everything you need to know. All you have to do is close your eyes and listen to what it wants to tell you. You’ll be surprised with what you hear.”

That’s what his mother would say. He would always complain about how he couldn’t hear anything but she always said that the waves spoke to everyone when they would need it.

The sound of paper rustling rang in his ears and he opened his eyes to see a familiar red dragon flying through the air.

“Is that? It’s Keith!” he watched Keith twirl around the air with white things surrounding him before he fell into the water below and swim through the water the same white things following him. “Are birds chasing him?” he watched Keith approach the building before bursting from the water and going up, causing Lance to jump back away from the railing as he and the things chasing him followed. “Keith! Come on, get them!” he yelled before he realised something. Keith looked hurt. He couldn’t be sure but he was positive his scales looked darker in places as if from blood. “Keith, over here!” he yelled hoping to get the dragon’s attention. It worked as Keith pulled away from white mass that surround him and headed towards the open area where Lance stood.

Lance moved out of the way as Keith went crashing through the rice paper door and he tried pulling the balcony’s own doors closed. As he struggled with one of the doors, the white things that hadn’t smacked against the door started covering him. Lance jolted back pulling at his arms and face when he realised, they were just paper. They would have looked like a symbol of a woman if it weren’t for the long ‘wings’ they had. As if knowing they had lost, all the paper birds pulled away from the door and those who hadn’t been too damaged from Lance’s abuse pulled away and went to flying off, going back to where they came from. Lance watched them fly away as he tried pulling the door actually shut but he heard something behind him. Keith.

Keith in his dragon form did not look like the river spirt from the night before. While that one had a body made of water, mask and weird hand like claws, Keith looked more like a traditional Japanese dragon, with the long whiskers, white hair lining down his back, the red scales covering his whole body. Blood fell from his fanged mouth that hissed as Lance.

“Keith, it’s ok. Those paper thing or birds, whatever, they’re gone. You’re safe.” There was a question Lance really wanted to ask but Keith must have decided he was done listening as he headed straight for open portion of the balcony doors. Lance dodged out of the way, running back to the railing to try and see where Keith went. He watched as the red dragon hit the wall above them only to continue upwards to Hagger’s area before slipping through a window. “He went upstairs. I have to get to him before he bleeds to death. But…if he’s hurt, then what happened to Shiro?”

Lance didn’t want to think about that. He needed to get to Keith. As he ran back downstairs, he didn’t see a still mostly put together piece of left over bird stand up and follow Lance, attaching itself to his back as he climbed the stairs that would get him the highest he could to an elevator.

* * *

 

“Welcome the rich man, he’s hard for you to miss. His but keeps getting bigger, so there’s plenty there to kiss.” Varkon sang, leading the spirit up the steps. He was bigger, much bigger. He waddled as he walked, fatter from all the food the bath house gave him. “Everybody bow down.”

“Welcome rich man.” All the greeting women said, the other workers standing behind them almost vibrating as they held onto their offering boxes.

“Beg for tips, this is the time. Beg for tips, make yourself a dime.” The yelling was almost defining as people started to beg for gold.

This is what Lance ran into. He could barely see the guest and honestly, he could care less. All he cared about what using the elevator to get up to Keith, who was hurt and bleeding and was the only dragon he saw with no Shiro in sight. He shoved his way through the crowds trying to get to the elevator, finally able to it only to be stopped by a frog spirit.

“What are you doing?” he demanded, grabbing Lance’s arm that had been reaching for the lever.

“Going upstairs?” he didn’t have time for this.

“No you’re not!” his attention turned to Lance’s hand. Lance hadn’t even noticed but it was stained in blood. Keith’s blood, no doubt left back when he went back out of the room. He even saw the white of his uniform was stained with the blood. “Ahh! Blood!” apparently spirits didn’t like blood as well as the smell of humans.

Lance took the chance to run from the elevator, running into the open space that had been made for the guest. He stopped at the sight of the spirit, much different, but still the same spirit that had helped him.

“Out of the way you!” Varkon ordered, as they stopped in front of the white haired guy.

Lance steeled himself and bowed low to the spirit, “thank you for helping me.”

“Don’t you talk to him, you-Ah!” Lance watched as the spirit grabbed the back of Varkon’s shirt and threw him into the crowd before moving closer to Lance. The spirit held his hands together like he did towards him when he was offering him the bath tokens, except this time, he offered him a large growing pile of gold. Lance could hear the gasps of the workers all around him as he looked at the tall pile of gold in front of him. Lance was tempted, a bit of this gold could help end Hunk’s contract, but it didn’t seem right somehow. He had been upstairs while everyone had been serving this guy. He didn’t deserve it, so he shook his head. If he wanted to help Hunk, he’d earn it himself. “Thanks but no.” the spirt made an almost wounded sound shoving the pile closer to Lance. “No, thank you for offering, but I don’t want any.” Then in his peripheral vison he spotted a familiar white lock. Shiro.

“Shiro!” Lance yelled the taller male’s name, which caught everyone’s attention but it was quickly lost when the spirit dropped all the gold. It took a while for him to push through all the moving bodies, until a hand griped his wrist, helped him along.

“Lance, what going on?” Shiro asked. He looked fine, not a scratch on him. He looked so worriedly at Lance, but Lance spoke first before Shiro could get anything else out.

“When did you get back?”

“Last night. The place was still awake and I heard that a guest was the cause of it. I’ve been trying to figure out who he was but…”

“Have you seen Keith?” Lance asked franticly.

“No, we split up before coming back here. Why, Lance what’s wrong? Wait, your covered in blood.”

“It’s Keith’s. I was up in the rooms and I saw him being attacked. I tried helping him but he took off and went upstairs to Hagger’s office.”

“Lance, I need you to calm down.” The two could hear Varkon yelling at the workers to get away from the guest. “I need to take care of this. Lance, can you get to Keith?”

“How? That’s the closest elevator.”

“Go around the back, there’s a service ladder that’ll lead up to a window in Hagger’s bathroom. Lance, I need you to try and take care of Keith until I can get to you. If Hagger gets there before I do, get him down to Kolivan’s ok? He’ll be able to help take care of him. Lance, can you do that?”

“Do you have to go?”

“I don’t want to, trust me. But the longer we stay here arguing about this, the more Keith could be losing blood.”

Shiro was right. Keith was bleeding from his mouth so it had to be bad. “Ok, I’ll go quick.”

“Ok, head down this hallway and there’s a window that leads outside. There will be a pipe that leads to ladder, unless you can find a better way but it’s the quickest way. Lance, please hurry.”

Lance nodded before heading down the hallway. Shiro turned back to the crowd to see the spirit grab Varkon and a female worker and swallow them both whole. Shiro’s eyes widened at the sight as the other workers ran from the scene as the spirit seemed bigger.

How did a No Face spirit get into the bath house?


	8. Chapter 8

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A mission to rescue Keith...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I was contenplating updating yesterday, which would of been a good idea because I almost forgot to update today.

It didn’t Lance long to find the window Shiro had pointed out. He could barely hear the commotion he left behind but he trusted Shiro to take care of everything. he had to worry about Keith. The window itself was over a slanted roof that Lance was able somehow not slid off of. He climbed up and balanced himself on the top. There was a pipe that ran across and near the other side of it was the ladder. The pipe looked old and Lance was sure that if he even tried stepping onto it, it could break under him. Lance looked at his hand that was still stained with Keith’s blood. Keith was in trouble and Shiro trusted him to help Keith. He couldn’t let them down, not after everything they were doing for him. He pulled the strip of cloth that he used to tie his sleeves back out and after they were tied back he pulled up his pants legs and cinched them tight. He took a deep breath and with any last bit of determination that almost left him, he ran across the pipe. Like he thought, the pipe started groaning under his weight, starting to collapse under him. Lance moved as fast as he could, grabbing onto the ladder tightly as the pipe collapsed under his feet.

Lance let out a shaky breath before he righted himself and started on his trek up the ladder. He tried to remind himself of the trip up the stairs behind the bath house were scarier, at least with this he had a chance of grabbing onto rung.

_‘Though that might break something. But I can’t worry about that, I need to get to Keith.’_

Lance had to hand it to himself. He could see the window above him, not close but still. He had to stop to catch his breath, trying to breathe through the stich in his side and ignore the burning in his legs when he felt something tap the back of his head. He turned around automatically, and wondered if it had been the wind when he spotted something in the distance. It was large, about the size of a human but it was purple?

“Wait, its Hagger!” Lance exclaimed out loud. Hunk had said she had been asleep but now that he thought about it, with the way she acted with getting the gold from the river spirit the night before, there was no way she’d be in the bath house and not know about the guest they currently had. He climbed up quicker trying the reach the window so she wouldn’t see him when she got closer. A quick look behind him allowed him to get a better look at her. She looked like a bird with her face poking out and her hair flying around, her body covered in what he guessed was her cloak that she charmed to wrap around her to make her look like a bird.

Before he knew it, Lance reached the window and was able to climb onto the ledge, using his hands to keep him still against the ledge. It was terrifying balancing himself there but the thought of trying to open the window while still on the ladder did not sound like a good idea. Now only if he could prove himself right by getting the window open now. He tried banging his fist against it before deciding to do what he’d do to his dresser back at home when he would try and close it. Use his butt and back to try and slam it open. As he tried to do this, he didn’t see the ripped scrap of paper that had been hitching a ride on him the whole time slip through the window and it’s still and right as Lance went to hit the window again, it unlocked the window from the inside, causing Lance to lose his balance and fall in.

“Ow! Fucking hell, did I gain clumsiness added with my white hair and markings? Ah, fuck.” Lance complained, rubbing at the back of his aching head.

He was in the bathroom like Shiro said. Now he needed to figure out where Keith even was. The most obvious place would be Hagger’s office. If they got back from a mission, Lance was sure Shiro and Keith would debrief at Hagger’s office. That’s where they had gone the night they met him when the distracted the workers from him. But he had no clue how to get there? He didn’t walk through the halls himself when he came here. He went with his gut, he ran down a random hall, just hoping to somehow get even remotely close to Hagger’s office. He did enter a strange room though. It was big and it looked like a child’s room, judging from the amount of toys and presents scattered on the floor. The bed was large, not even made and while everything in this room was supposed to be all happy go lucky, Lance felt stifled in there. Lance was sure he heard crinkling paper before he heard Hagger speaking. At the end of the room a doorway was blocked with a curtain and when Lance went through it he found a cracked door.

“You fool, don’t you know a No Face when you see one? Where’s Shiro? I want him down there when I get there….Not around? Fine, I’ll do this myself. Make sure he doesn’t swallow anyone else.” Lance heard a clang like Hagger hung up a phone before she spoke again. “Ugg, Keith is bleeding all over the carpet. Get him out of here, he’ll be dead soon anyway. Upsetting I can’t have them both but at least Shiro is still easy to control.” From the crack Lance saw Hagger approaching the door. He scrambled back into the room trying to find a place to hide before diving into the large pile of pillows that was near the door.

Hagger pushed through the curtain and would of continued walking if she didn’t stop at the pile of pillows. She narrowed her eyes in suspicion and started to pull pillows away when she found a purple sleeping face looking back up at her, white hair similar to hers flopping in his face.

“Aww, hello darling. We’re you hiding in the pillows again?” the face scrunched up as he started to stir, whining and crying a bit. “Oh, momma woke you up when you were sleeping. I’m sorry.” She leaned in and placed a kiss on his forehead, calming him down. “Go back to sleep now.” She picked up a pillow and gently rested it on the opening she had uncovered and head to the door, picking up toys and pillows that were in her way and threw them on the couch before hitting a switch on the wall. A picture of a sun on the ceiling turned into a moon dimming as it changed. With a flick of her wrist, curtains that had been tied back closed and Hagger was gone, to deal with the mess she had been greeted with.

Lance poked his head out of where he had been hiding. He didn’t hear anything and the baby didn’t seem to be moving so he decided to take a chance and started to climb out. He didn’t get very far when something grabbed his arm and pulled him in.

“Ah! Ow! Let go!” then Lance got a look at what was even holding him. It was a baby, he couldn’t guess age but maybe around a couple months to a year old and he was, well…. “You’re a big baby.” Not in terms of chubbiness babies were known for but size was. He had to be almost as big a Kolivan. His skin was purple, the same shade as Hagger’s, and he had the same yellow eyes but with blue pupils. His white hair looked lighter than Hagger’s in Lance’s eyes and whatever hair would have been flopping in his face was pulled back with a knocker ball hairtie. “Who are you?”

For a moment, Lance wondered why he was expecting an answer but he should of realised nothing was exactly normal in the spirit world.

“I’m Lotor and you’re a bad germ from outside that’s come to make me sick.”

Lance blinked down at Lotor. “Germ? I’m not a germ, I’m a human. Look, I need to go somewhere because someone is hurt. Can you let go of me?”

“You’ll get sick if you go outside, so stay here and play with me.”

“You won’t get sick.” Lance tried reasoning.

“Yes, you will. That’s why I never left this room.”

Lance could understand medically why kids couldn’t go outside, but to trap a kid inside a room? Lance saw the floors and walls, they were padded. Hagger was extremely protective of Lotor to the point it was just adding to his spoiled self, which he could see.

“Being in here is what will make you sick. You should let me go and go see for yourself.”

“If you leave, I’ll scream and momma will come here and kill you. Play with me or I’ll break your arm.” Lotor threatened, twisting Lance’s arm enough for him to feel the pain.

Lance had broken his arm once when he was a kid, climbing a tree and got too excited when Allura called him back down. The pain had been quick then blaring. This was close to it.

Lance groaned in pain before begging again. “Please, let go.”

“Play with me.” He demanded twisting a hair tighter.

Spoiled brat. Lance knew growing up with Allura and Coran he was a bit spoiled. Didn’t do things himself, if he complained long enough he got his way, most of the time he could get away with anything. Just working that one night made Lance promise himself he’d try to change, to try not to be spoiled. This kid though was what Lance could have become, if he didn’t control himself. He wasn’t about to let a spoiled brat get his way and keep him from saving Keith. He shoved his blood stained hand into Lotor’s face.

“Germs, I have germs!”

The statement worked. Lotor let out a scream, pulling pillows to block him away from Lance, while Lance tried backing out to get out of the pile. He kicked pillows out of his way and once his feet reach solid ground, he ran out the room and threw the door to Hagger’s office open. Where he came out from was right next to her desk, just like he remembered Lotor bashing his foot in from the first time and right where he had been standing was Keith. The carpet had been pulled back to reveal a large hole and Keith, still in his dragon form, was being pushed towards it by the three fuzzy purple heads.

“Keith!” he ran over, causing the heads to move out of the way. “Keith, are you ok? Wake up.” Lance begged, leaning over his head try to get a reaction, anything and then turning to the heads who kept making their noises as if in annoyance. “Shut your mouth! Keith, wake up please.” Lance had been so focused on Keith, he didn’t see there was another one of Hagger’s beings was also in the room. When he was attacked by the same bird that had been looking for him the first time he arrived in the spirit world, he let out a yelp and leaned over Keith more to protect him. “Get off! And stop pushing him!” he yelled at the heads who tried taking advantage of Lance being distracted.

It was quiet a scene. Lance, his hair now blue tined white leaning over, trying to protect a red dragon all while trying to defend themselves from an owl with a strange mask like face and three fuzzy heads. The next thing to add to the picture obviously had to be a large baby.

The whole room stilled at the sound of someone struggling and everyone turned to see Lotor trying to get into the room but tangled in the curtains that blocked off his room. He wasn’t letting that stop him though as he pulled harder to get inside, eventually pulling the curtain rod down. All eyes were on Lotor as he waddled over to where Lance sat and glared down at him. Lance wasn’t scared of Lotor, he knew he was a spoiled brat who was used to get what he wanted but he could tell he was about to be blackmailed or guilted into something. He was guilty of it.

“If you don’t play with me, I’ll start crying.”

Shit.

“No, don’t please.” He begged, guilt from when he would do this to Allura and Coran buzzing in his head.

“Right now or I’ll start crying.” Lotor demanded, his eyes already filling with crocodile tears.

“No, no, no, don’t please!”

“What a little brat.”

Lance stilled at the sound of a completely new voice. He heard a crumbling sound coming from behind him before he saw one of the paper birds that had attacked Keith lift itself from his back. He watched it float towards Lotor, whose tears stopped to stare at the ripped bird.

“Shut your mouth. You’re a little porker aren’t you?” the bird went to a clear spot and dropped to the floor. As it touched, a figure started to rise up, landing gently on her feet. “Oh, still see-through.” The figure was a woman. She looked tall and her purple-grey hair was tied back, with just a bit framing her face. She had the same markings on her face like Hagger did and honestly if Lance looked closely enough she looked almost like…

“Momma?” Lotor asked. She looked like a much younger version of Hagger, even though her skin tone was different, more like Lance’s than Lotor’s.

“You pea brain. Can’t you tell me from your own Mother?” the woman snapped before snapping her fingers at Lotor.

First Lance saw whiskers and then the pointed ears getting wider and before Lance knew it, Lotor had shrunk down to a cat, but he had a Mohawk of orange fur going from his head and blending into his tail and two purple markings on his ears. He let out a little mew and even though it was a simple animal, Lance felt afraid.

“And now the size of your brain matches your body and I’m being generous. Now, what else to mess with?” the woman wondered out loud, glancing over at him and the creatures that still surrounded him.

Lance had his hand on Keith and felt his hand grip the fur on Keith’s back tightly. The three heads rolled and jumped away while the bird took off upwards. Lance flinched at the sound of the snap and looked up to see the bird turn blue and became a fuzzy pill shaped creature with legs like a centipede and triangle markings next to its mouth. It fell to the floor but floated up to right itself.

The woman let out a small giggle before turning back to Lance, with her finger to her lips, as if telling him to keep a secret. “tell anyone about this, and I’ll rip your mouth out.” she snapped her fingers once more and the three heads who had been aiming for going under Hagger’s desk rolled back out and stacked on top of each other and the morphed together to form a fake Lotor.

Lance defiantly felt fear. “Who are you?”

“My name is Honerva. I’m Hagger’s twin sister, fraternal obviously. Thank you so much for bringing me to this dragon’s hiding place. It would of taken me a while to find him if you didn’t go screaming that you needed to get to him. Now, hand him over.”

Lance tightened his grip and leaned over Keith more, trying to block him from Honerva. “Why? What do you want with Keith?”

“He stole my solid gold seal and I want it back.”

Steal? Keith? He shook his head, “no, he wouldn’t do that. Keith’s a good person.”

Honerva gave him a look like she pitied his naivety, “do you know why that little dragon of yours is my sister’s servant? To steal her magic and now he’s stolen mine. He’s a greedy little thief and no doubt that little friend of his is the same way. Now hand him over. I’d rather do this without killing more people.”

“More?”

“There’s a spell on that seal and anyone who steals it will die. I only want one body left here, so hand him over!”

_‘Keith wouldn’t steal from her. I know I’ve only known him a day, but I know he wouldn’t do it for his own gain. But if he did, he’s gonna die. No, no, no’_

“No!” Lance yelled as a loud slam echoed through the room and the ground shook.

The image of Honerva and Lance looked over to see the fake Lotor slamming his hand down in attempts to crush the real Lotor and the newly changed owl.

“Be quiet you idiots! I don’t want my sister coming up here.” Honerva said, walking away from Lance, like she knew he wouldn’t go anywhere.

For a baby who acted tough to get what he wanted, Lotor obviously knew when to ask for help as he almost crawled towards Lance and looked at him with these pleading eyes. He didn’t think twice to holding his hand out and letting Lotor climb up on his shoulder, the changed owl fitting itself comfortably on top of Lotor. He had been so distracted with them he almost didn’t notice that Keith was awake, judging from the growling. Obviously knowing who was near and angry with what he knew, Keith lashed out his tail, ripping the paper bird that rested on the floor causing the image of Honerva to disappear. The attack however shifted Keith so much that the job the heads had been trying to do solved itself out as Keith tipped into the hole, dragging Lance down with him.

When Lance had fallen out of the tree and broke his arm, he remembered when he was falling, it felt fast. He felt the air rushing by him and he knew he was in danger but he couldn’t move his body fast enough. Falling down the hole felt similar. He had grabbed onto Keith, who was dead weight himself so he felt like they were moving faster. The fall felt longer, as the wind rushed past them, the pressure enough the almost dislodge Lotor and the Puff until Lance tucked them under his chest.

_‘Keith could fly us out. If he could focus for two seconds we could get out of here and maybe we could get to Kolivan and Shiro and we can help him. I don’t know if it’ll work but I have to try.’_

With the burning desire to try and do something, Lance tried to steady himself and grabbed onto Keith’s horns. However, before the dragon’s name could slip past Lance’s lips, he felt a wave of something wash over him. He felt like he was underwater and smaller. He felt one hand touching a horn but the other brushed passed something, but Lance couldn’t figure out what. It was only a quick thing, but Lance felt like he was missing something, like he only had half the picture. Whatever it was though, it had to of affected Keith somehow because Lance realised in his daze they had gotten closer to the bottom, where the same spirits Lance saw when he first crossed over into the spirit world started to rise, Keith started to move. Lance imagined this was what flying a broomstick felt like, as he felt Keith’s body ripple to get them up and away, darting into an opening. It was a tight squeeze but Keith didn’t let that stop him as he flew quickly. Lance saw the glimpse of light right as they crashed into it. He had been expecting a small side door, not the vent system that lead into the boiler room.

They went crashing through and Lance lost his grip on Keith and fell right into Kolivan’s arms, the shadow arms coming out to steady Lance. Keith, free from his burden went crashing into the wall of drawers, trying to steady himself as he fell to the floor. Lotor and the Puff were floating safely to the floor as the Puff held Lotor by his scruff.

“Keith!”

“Isamu, be careful.” Kolivan warned, as Lance climbed off of him and off the podium to get to Keith.

“Kolivan? Lance?” a voice sounded. “Oh spirits, Keith!” Shiro came rushing in, standing near Keith looking concerned at his partner, who went crashing to the floor after letting out pained roars, spraying blood everywhere.

“Keith! Shiro, what’s happening? What do I do?” Lance asked, as the two dropped to their knees, hands hovering unsure on how to touch the red dragon, who still growled in pain.

“I don’t know, but…all this blood.” Shiro said, his focus turning to the small growing puddle of blood dripping from Keith’s mouth.

“He might have swallowed something. It’s easier to carry stuff like that in this form isn’t it?” Kolivan suggested, getting close but still trying not to crowd.

“Whatever it is, he needs to cough it up now.” Shiro said, but Keith let out an aggravated roar, like he knew he had to do it, but he couldn’t.

Lance’s mind was racing. He was glad they were away from Hagger and any sister of hers but Keith was still suffering. Usually trying to cough something up was hard and Lance tried running through every way that they could do it when he remembered something. He dug between his shirts and pulled out the medicine the river spirit gave him.

Shiro noticed it in Lance’s hand and his eyes widened. “Is that? How did you meet the Great Water Spirit?”

“Long story, but he gave me this and I don’t know how, but I know its medicine. I tried a small bite last night and almost felt sick from the flavour. Maybe it can help Keith.”

Shiro grabbed Lance’s wrist in a firm grip. “Lance, listen to me. That medicine might be able to help your family. Keith wouldn’t forgive himself if you wasted it on him.”

“It’s not wasting. And I won’t use the whole thing, just enough to get him to throw up. The thing he swallowed has a spell on it that will kill him if he doesn’t get it out.”

Obviously Shiro wasn’t happy to hear that.

“Shiro please, Keith helped me too and _I_ wouldn’t forgive myself if I let him die.” Lance begged

Shiro sighed. They needed to work quickly. “Alright, not half of it. A little less than half should do the trick. We’ll do this together ok? I’ll get his mouth open and you put it in alright? Come on Keith, wake up.” Shiro said as Lance nodded and bit off a piece.

Keith’s jowls were clamped shut and not budging and they were losing time. Shiro was able to fit his fingers and pry apart Keith’s jaw, even with the resistance.

“Lance, quick!” Lance shoved the medicine into Keith’s mouth, pushing it back as far as he could, quickly removing his arm once it was far enough for Keith to swallow. “Now swallow Keith!”

When Lance tried the medicine, he quickly ate his pork bun in attempts to get the taste of his mouth. Keith reacted the same way, but much more violently in his dragon form. Shiro had moved his hands away when he let Keith’s mouth closed but when Lance saw Keith react to the taste in his mouth, he wrapped his arms around Keith’s snout, keeping his mouth closed as much as he could. Keith fought back, his tail flicking widely, slamming into the floor and the wall, and almost hitting Shiro.

Lance keeping Keith’s mouth closed worked as whatever was in his stomach came up and Keith coughed it out, the black blob landing across the room.

“Lance! Look,” Lance let go of Keith to look behind him and saw the black blob grow smaller into a black worm that sat on top of a gold bar, which if Lance remembered his Japanese objects correctly, was a seal stamp. Honerva’s seal stamp. Before he could focus on the fact that Keith stole after all, he noticed the worm moving. “Get the worm, quick!” Shiro ordered, getting up himself.

Lance dashed off to grab it, while it squeaked at the sight of him approaching and went dashing off. Lance grabbed the seal and chased after it. He noticed that Shiro’s right arm glowed as his magic was activated and a purple orb grew in his hand before he aimed it for the worm but missed as it quickly changed direction. It went to the small hutches where the soot balls lived but all the soot balls blocked the ways in, squeaking at the worm to scare it. It turned back only to see that Lance had caught up to it. Lance didn’t it getting away, so he decided the best thing to do was try and squish it, with his foot, which was not a pleasant experience. It was cold and slimy and when Lance lifted his foot which had the guts of it, the only thing left on the floor of it was a black mark.

“Did you kill it?” Shiro asked, sounding a bit stunned

“Those things are extremely bad luck. Quick before it rubs off on you, thumbs and forefingers together.” Kolivan ordered, Lance obeying while hoping around on one foot. “Stay still. Evil spirits, begone.” He commanded, breaking the bridge Lance made with a frim chop of his fingers.

“Keith stole this from Honerva, Hagger’s sister?” Lance said, holding up the seal. It was gold, like Honerva described, with a frog figurine on top of it.

“Twin sister and a very powerful witch. Come here,” Shiro said holding his hand out Lance’s soiled foot, another orb sitting in his marked hand, “no one’s seen her before but just listening to Hagger rant about her is enough to get an idea. The solid gold seal has powerful magic.” Shiro explained as he put Lance’s foot inside the orb and slowly pulled it out, the guck gone as it came out again.

Lance wanted to ask why Keith would even take it when he noticed the red dragon was starting to get smaller.

“Keith’s changing back!” Even though Shiro was closer, Lance was quick enough get next to Keith to watch the scales disappear until only Keith was left on his front. He was complete dead weight as Lance turned him over, cradling him in his arms and only let out pained moans when Lance or Shiro tried calling to him. “He’s not waking up.”

“He’s extremely hurt and he needs rest.” Kolivan said, pulling out his futon to lay out for Keith.

“The seal. Honerva said that there was a spell on the seal. It would kill anyone who stole it. But why would he steal it? Keith isn’t that type of person.” Lance turned to Shiro, pleading with his eyes. “Right?”

Shiro looked guilty, like he knew something. “Come on, let’s give him some water and then we can lay him down.”


	9. Chapter 9

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A certain spirit needs to go...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ...my only excuse for posting late is I didn't go to class and I usually remember then, but I didn't so...well, anyway, finals are coming up so to save me from forgetting next week, you get a double update. Hope you enjoy!

Lance laid Keith down on Kolivan’s futon. Keith looked better than he did moments ago but Lance remembered that Keith was still affected by the spell, making him as sick as he was now. He could still die.

“You know, you and Keith have had it hard since the moment you two got here.”

Lance looked up to look over at Kolivan who was looking at Shiro. “You two came wondering in here and when I told the two of you to turn back and go home, you said you had no home. Hagger offered you a job and before I knew it the curious and lost boys I meet, their eyes became steely and you were like ice.” Shiro looked guilty almost.

“Shiro, you know why Keith took the seal don’t you?” Lance asked.

Shiro didn’t look at him but the guilt was heavy on his face. They all sat in silence and Lance was about to start begging when he heard Shiro let out a sigh and turn to him, his eyes still downcast.

“We finished our mission in no time and were heading back when we heard word of the Library of Olkari had opened its doors again.”

“Olkari Library?”

“It’s a famous library here in the spirit realm that changes location and will only open their door for different amounts of time, it’s never the same every time. However you have to be a very high ranking spirit to get entry or at least have a token of permission from a high ranking spirit.” Kolivan explained

Shiro nodded. “It’s said to have the answers to every question ever. When we heard, we started thinking about finding an answer for why you changed so dramatically with your looks. We knew we couldn’t get in without Hagger’s permission and Keith promised me he could find a way. We had to get back and he convinced me to come back while he took care of it.”

“So he must have stolen Honerva’s seal. She’s powerful and high ranking enough.” Kolivan said

“This,” the two spirits looked at Lance, who was looking at Keith, his hands in fists, “this is my fault. Keith is hurt because of me.”

“Lance, no.” he heard footsteps and looked up at Shiro when he felt his hands being taken by him, “this is not your fault. Keith and I promised that we’d do whatever it takes to help you. Keith wanted to do what he could to help you. Trust me, you can yell at him when he gets better.”

Lance pulled one of his hands out to look at the seal in his hand. “What if I go return the seal back to Honerva?”

“Return it?” Shiro asked, “I don’t know how much it’ll help. Honerva’s extremely powerful.”

“I know, I saw. But if I do it and apologize to her, maybe she could lift the curse. Do you know how to get there?”

“Are you sure?”

“You said you and Keith promised you’d do whatever it took to help me, so I need to return the favour. I’m going to save Keith.”

“There is a way to get there.” Kolivan said, as Shiro gave Lance a proud smile. “Getting back will be something different. Wait here.” Kolivan ordered walking over to the dresser that stood next to the podium he sat on to work

“Lance, are you sure you want to do this?” Shiro asked again

“I am. I used to think of myself as this spoiled kid who couldn’t do anything myself, letting everyone do what I needed for me. I’m going to change that.” Lance said, looking confident

“Lance, you already have. You did everything you could to defend Keith and you’re going to face a powerful witch on his behalf. Trust me, it’s not just your looks that are changing now.” Shiro said, looking proud of Lance

Lance felt his face turning a bit red and opened his mouth to reply but was stopped when he heard his name, his other one to be correct.

“Isamu? Isamu?” Hunk’s voice got closer to the door that lead into the bathhouse and was pushed open to reveal a much frazzled looking Balmerian spirit. “There you are. I’ve been-whoa.” Hunk looked around the room, still a mess from when Lance and Keith came crashing in and getting Keith to throw up. “What happened in here, it’s a mess.”

“Hunk?” Lance asked, as he and Shiro got up from Keith’s side

“Right, sorry. Everyone has been looking for you Isamu. Hagger is furious. The guest I told you about, the one that woke up the whole bathhouse, he’s a creature called-”

“No Face.” Shiro interrupted.

“What? What’s a No Face?” Lance asked

“A creature that feeds your greed and then devours you. What I don’t understand is how it got in.” Shiro explained

“That’s the thing. It said that _Isamu_ was the one who let him in.” Hunk said, making Lance looked confused

“What? I don’t even know what this thing looks like.”

“Lance, I need you to think ok? The whole time you’ve been here, has there been anyone that you let in, anyone at all?” Shiro asked, resting his hands on the white haired boy’s shoulders.

Lance thought hard. From the sound of it, No Face had to be a scary looking creature but he couldn’t think of anything. Then he remembered. “I did. I did let him in, last night.”

“What? Isamu!” Hunk said surprised and upset

“I didn’t know. I thought he was a guest.”

“Lance, did he give you anything? No Face will see what you greatly desire and try and give it to you.” Shiro asked

“Um, well when Hunk sent me to get a bath token, the foremen wouldn’t give me one and he kinda appeared and got me one. After Hunk went to get us breakfast, he tried to give me more but I didn’t need it so I said no and then he disappeared.” Lance explained

“And when I found you?” Shiro asked

“He tried giving me gold, but I had been upstairs while everyone else was working so I said no.”

“Um, might be a good time to mention that No Face wants Isamu.” Hunk said, his face evident with how much he disliked the order.

“You’re joking.” Shiro said, clearly not happy

Hunk shook his head, “Hagger demanded Isamu be found and brought upstairs.”

“Ah ha! Found them.” Kolivan said suddenly, one of his shadow hands holding something up triumphly. “Here we go Isamu. You can use these.”

Kolivan handed Lance 4 small attached pieces of paper, which Hunk gasped at the sight of.

“Those are train tickets! Where did you get those?” Hunk asked Kolivan

“I’ve been saving those for 40 years. You can use those to get to Honerva. Her place is at Swampy Bottom, which is the 6th stop.” He explained, watching Lance mouth the instructions. “The train used to go in both directions but now days, it’s one way.”

“I’ll just walk back on the tracks. I guess my family will have to wait for a while. Hold this,” Lance asked Shiro, handing him the seal and the tickets. He pulled the string the held his sleeves up off and called over to the soot balls, “guys, I need my clothes please.”

“I should come with you, in case Honerva tries to hurt you.” Shiro said

“Um, not sure what’s going on, but that wouldn’t be a good idea. Someone already told Hagger you were here. I know she’s be livid if she found out you disappeared, which I’m assuming is after we deal with No Face right?” Hunk asked

“No Face first, then I have to go to Honerva’s.” Lance said, taking his shirt and pants from the soot balls. “Hunk, any chance you can give us a hand?”

Hunk sighed. “Not like I can’t get into any more trouble. What can I do?”

“I saw that there’s a dock. Any chance I can get a ride to the station?”

Lance pulled on the clothes he had been wearing when he first arrived before pulling his uniform over it and handed his shoes to Hunk before handing his jacket to Shiro.

“Your jacket? But isn’t this?” Shiro questioned remembering what Lance said about it

“Yeah, my brother’s and he did give it to me before he died but he gave it to me so I would be safe. So I want you to give it to Keith so he’ll be safe. Seems like he’s more likely to get into trouble.” Lance said thinking about what Keith went through for him

“He does. Are you sure?”

Lance nodded, taking Shiro’s free hand and put the jacket in his hand. He took the seal and tickets before kneeling next to Keith. “I’ll be back soon ok, so don’t get any worse. I still need to give you an earful about stealing.”

“Stealing? What is going on?” Hunk whispered to Kolivan

“It’s called love Hunk.”

“Love? Isamu? With who?”

“Exactly.”

* * *

 

Up in the bathhouse, in the largest private dining area, No Face kept making a ruckus, demanding to see Isamu. The workers gave him more food in attempts to calm him while others either sent the other spirits who woke up back to their rooms or went around the whole bath house looking for the white haired human.

The workers were tense as they stood in the hallway with their food hoping for at least some hope when two more female spirits ran out from dropping off food, terrified from what they had seen.

“He just keeps getting bigger.”

“I don’t want to be eaten.”

“it’s him.” that statement caused the whole hallway to become quiet as Lance walked up the hallway, the changed Lotor and crow seated on his shoulder.

Lance could tell he was not anyone’s favourite person at the moment.

“This is all _his_ fault.”

Ok, Lance understood that he let the creature into the bath house, but the only reason No Face was the way he was fell on the workers’ shoulders for feeding into their greed and not even questioning what was happening.

It took everything in him not to sass the ones blaming him and walked towards the room where the foreman Morvok came running out to meet him.

“Isamu, thank goodness. Hagger can’t keep him occupied much longer.”

“Isamu! I want Isamu!” a voice yelled, the whole room shaking from the screams.

“I’m sure they’ll find him. Calm down.” Hagger said

“This way please.” Morvok instructed pushing Lance near the door before knocking and whispering, “Madam, Isamu is here.”

The door slid open as if Hagger had been waiting for that sentence, her hair almost rising to show how angry she was. “Finally! Isamu will be with you in just a minute sir.” Hagger stepped out of the room and closed the door firmly behind her before backing Lance up to yell at him. “This monster is completely destroying my bathhouse and I’m trying not to think about how much it’ll cost to fix everything, let alone deal with the guests who know what’s going on. Letting in a No Face, you stupid child. I don’t know why he wants you but you had better suck up to him and get every last piece of…” Hagger trailed off as the crow changed puff lifted the changed Lotor up to his mother, who let out a mew. “What is that animal doing in here?”

Lance blinked as he saw Lotor seem to droop at the fact his mother didn’t recognise him. How could she not recognise the same kid who tried blackmailing him to get what he wanted?

“You don’t recongise him?”

“Don’t be ridiculous. Now get in there.” Hagger said pushing Lance into the room hard enough that he fell onto his knees. “Here’s Isamu.” She said, shutting the door behind him. Lance was able to hear Morvok asking if they planned to leave him there and Hagger snapping back asking if he wanted to take his place. Well, he was at the very least glad Movok was just a bit worried for him.

The room that No Face had been confined in was a mess. It was full of different food, most on the floor, which confused Lance because all the workers who stood in the hallway outside had food.

_‘Guess they’re still buying into their greed not even realising its making things worse.’_

No Face was gigantic. The last place Lance had seen him was in the Big Tub and honestly it looked like he would be fitting in that tub. He had only been a few feet taller than him when Lance first met him but now he was the size of the river spirit when he had been covered in the guck. Lance sat as formally as possible as he watched the creature stare him down. Lance could see he was right in guessing the mask wasn’t part of his face as the open drooling mouth gapped, like Lance was next on the menu. He probably was.

“Try this, it’s delicious.” No Face said with Varkon’s voice, holding up a platter of skinned rabbits. With no response from Lance he dropped the platter and spoke again, this time with Klaizap’s voice. “Do you want some gold, I’m not giving it to anyone else.” Lance still didn’t answer him. “What do you want Isamu? Tell me, I can give it to you.

He couldn’t. Even if Lance didn’t know what No Face was, he’d know that No Face couldn’t give him what he wanted. He wanted his birth family alive. He wanted Coran and Allura to turn back into humans and be ok. He wanted Alfor back. He wanted Keith to get better. He wanted to know his friends here at the bath house would be safe. He wanted to understand his connection with Keith and Shiro. He wanted a lot of things, but nothing that No Face could give to him.

“I would like to leave sir. There’s somewhere I need to be very desperately.” No Face seemed to flinch at the matter a fact tone from Lance. “Hagger doesn’t want you here anymore. Don’t you have a home or friends and family to go back to?” he asked, watching the mask of No Face sink into his body.

“No I’m lonely, I’m lonely.” The two voices started to merge together, switching out for each sentence.

Lance flinched when No Face started to move closer and he got up and planted himself against one of the doors, feeling the handle pressed against his back. “What do you want? Why are you still here?”

“I want Isamu. I want Isamu! Take the gold, take it!” he demanded, his mask remerging, and outstretching his hand that filled with gold to Lance, the fingers started to spread apart like a claw to grab Lance and throw him in his mouth.

But Lance wasn’t scared. Honestly he should be, but he wasn’t. Maybe because he knew he didn’t give into his greed and that the whole experience at the bathhouse had changed him for the better? Lance wasn’t sure but he didn’t have to dwell on it because Lotor decided to jump in and lodged his teeth into one of No Face’s fingers. He watched No Face pull Lotor close and attempt to swat at him only for Lotor to let go and be picked up by the puff. It was at the second, Lance got an idea and pulled a familiar looking half green ball from his uniform. All he could think of was what the bathhouse was doing to No Face and how it was driving him insane. Yes, it would keep him from helping his family but if he didn’t get No Face out, he wouldn’t be able to help Keith and Keith could die without him being able to help. Besides, even if he did turn Allura and Coran back, he’d be stuck here because of his contract and he didn’t want to give Hagger a reason to keep him locked up even longer. If it meant he’d have to work more, than he would. But for now he had to get No Face out of here.

Once Lotor was on his shoulder again, he walked up to No Face. “Before you eat me, eat this. It might make you feel better. I was planning on saving this for my family but you need it more.” Lance threw it into No Face’s gaped mouth and once it was in, No Face reacted. Lance knew the medicine tasted bad and Keith hadn’t been fond of it being shoved down his throat but how No Face reacted was completely different.

He sounded like he was going to be sick as he turned from Lance and he was. With a gag, thick, black goop came from No Face’s mouth, causing Lance to back up to the door again in disgust.

“Isamu! Isamu, what did you do to me?” No Face questioned before he lunged forward to get to Lance.

Lance threw himself out the door, not even taking time to warn the frogs that had been eavesdropping to move before No Face came bursting through.

“Move, get out of the way!” Lance yelled as he ran down the hall he came from headed to the closest stairs.

As he turned the corner, Hagger came rushing in, looking fully done as she let Lance pass her, her attention on the big black blob headed straight towards her. “Enough of this nonsense. I could care less how rich he is now, this ends right now!” she demanded as her hands began to crackle with purple lighting, which she shoot at No Face. If she had known he was still prone to throwing up everything in his system, she might have moved. Since she didn’t, she was surprised at the projectile vomit that covered her and the whole area.

No Face slammed into the railing at that point, dry heaving more until he heard something. Lance, calling him over on the lower level, taking off again once No Face started too climbed down like a spider to try and get to him. Lance went down the steps as quickly as he could, hoping he wouldn’t fall. As he used the end of the railing to spin himself down the next flight of steps, he saw Lotor being carried by the Puff all the way down. Lance reached the end of the stairwell and he could hear the mechanics of the elevator working and turned waiting for No Face to get closer before he dove to the side and ran down the hallway heading towards the kitchen. While Lance ran ahead, No Face coughed up the female spirit and Varkon out before growling the direction Lance went.

Lance could tell No Face was reverting back the way he was as he began to move much slower, stopping every now and then just to make sure No Face was still behind him. He could hear him still coughing up what was in him as they got towards the side of the bathhouse near the docks. Lance climbed out the window and headed down to where Hunk was waiting in a tarai-bune or tub boat.

“Isamu, over here!”

Lance waved climbing down all the different levels and things that he used as steps until he reached there and quickly climbed in the boat. While Hunk startled moving the boat towards the station, Lance turned to see No Face on the pipe Lance climbed on when he first got out the window.

“Hey No Face! Down here!”

“Isamu, what are you doing? Why are you calling him over here?” Hunk complained.

“Being in the bathhouse is tempting him and making him crazy. Being away would be good for him.” Lance said, as he took his work shirt off and tugging the sleeves of his raglan shirt down.

“That’s nice expect now he’s following us. Did he just spit out…was that Klaizap?” Hunk wondered out loud before looking forward again.

Lance pulled his blue work pants off and tugged on his jeans to make sure they stayed up so they wouldn’t get wet and pulled his necklace out, squeezing onto the crystals hoping for some luck.

“Ok, here. I can’t go farther than here but the train stop is right ahead. The train should be here soon.” Hunk said, stopping the boat right near the tracks and letting Lance climb out with his shoes in hand and Lotor and the Puff floating by. “Be careful ok? Do you have the tickets?”

“I will and yes. I’ll walk back on the tracks so it’ll be ok. You be careful too ok? Don’t get Hagger to come after you.”

“I won’t. Just, come back ok?”

“I will. I promise. Thanks again Hunk.” Lance said as he headed towards the station.

Hunk paddled the boat back towards the bathhouse when he noticed a very familiar looking spirit. Hunk felt anger build up inside him, most delivered to himself for not realising what the spirit was until it ate 2 people in front of him and not even thinking to protect Isamu more.

“Hey No Face! I find one scratch on him and you’re gonna see why I was the oldest in my village!” He threatened, hoping he wouldn’t have to follow through.

Lance was able to find the stop easily, the slab of concrete sticking out from the water. While Lance pulled his shoes on once he was on the concrete, Lotor let out a meow to let Lance know the train was near. And then, there it was. The train that started everything. The doors opened and Lance ran to the closest one, almost stopped by the conductor. He noticed that the conductor and everyone on the train were the same inky black the spirits Lance first saw when he realised he was in the Spirit Realm but in the shape of actual people. The conductor held out his hand and Lance quickly pulled out his phone that was still in his pockets and pulled the case away from it to grab the tickets tucked between them

“We’d like to go to Swampy Bottom please.” He asked, handing the tickets over.

The conductor pulled the tickets open and counted Lance, Lotor and the Puff before pointing behind Lance. The white haired boy turned to see No Face standing behind him.

“Did you want to come with us?” No Face nodded, making his little noises. Lance didn’t see the harm. No Face couldn’t offer him anything and the people on the train weren’t able to communicate. “He’d like to come too.” the conductor nodded and inserted the tickets onto the contraption hanging around his neck that shredded the tickets. Lance hoped he could find a way to repay Kolivan.

Lance climbed on and looked around for an open seat. No Face was left standing a bit lost when Lance found a spot and let Lotor and the Puff to find a spot on the ledge of the window so they could see the outside. “Hey,” Lance called over to No Face and patted the spot next to him, “come sit over here and behave yourself alright?”

Lance was sure to anyone else this would look weird. Him with his new white hair, next to a tall black spirit that only minutes before had been terrorizing the bathhouse he worked, which he was only at because the witch of the bathhouse turned his family into pigs. And honestly Lance knew before he’d be begging for a way out but his time at the bathhouse and everyone he meet from there had changed him. He watched people get off the train at the different train stops disappearing into the underground stations until it was just them on the train. As Lotor and the Puff curled up in Lance’s lap, Lance’s train of thought drifted to a certain dragon boy. Well not just Keith, Shiro as well. Were they ok? Was Keith still alive? Had Shiro been able to avoid Hagger? Lance didn’t know why he was so worried for someone he only knew for about 2 days but Lance couldn’t care less. They cared for him and that was the only thing that mattered to Lance. He wished as they got closer to Swampy Bottom that when this was over, he could get back to them.

* * *

 

_“Lance.”_ Keith opened his eyes as the name slipped past his lips. He blinked tiredly at the ceiling above him trying to figure out why he didn’t recongise it. He couldn’t see the shapes he had always seen in the celling of his and Shiro’s room. He blinked again and pushed himself up. He realised he was in the boiler room on Kolivan’s futon. Slowly everything started coming back. He stole Honerva’s seal so they could get into the Olkari Library to help Lance, but he was attacked. Lance helped him though; he remembered crashing into the men’s room. It was a bit fuzzy after that but he remembered hearing Lance and Shiro but it went dark after that. Then he heard Lance’s voice calling his name until he woke up.

He turned around to where Kolivan and Shiro were asleep as they leaned up against the wall. He crawled over and shook Shiro awake, shaking Kolivan up as well.

“Keith, you’re ok.” Kolivan said, looking surprised but at the same time not.

“I’m fine. Where’s Isamu?”

“You blacked out, after you stole Honerva’s seal.” Keith tried not to flinch at glare Shiro gave him. As much as he knew it had been stupid, it was for Lance.

“I remember that and then when I was in darkness I felt like I heard Isamu calling my name. So I followed it and when I woke up, I felt fine. I don’t feel like I was attacked by paper birds.”

“True love. Broke the curse on that seal you stole.” Kolivan said, this knowing smirk on his face.

“True love?” Shiro asked

“Oh don’t sound so disheartened. Trust me, it’s not only for one person.” Kolivan said, continuing before either of the boys could interrupt him. “Isamu went to go return the seal. He did it to try and get the curse lifted off of you.” Kolivan said, pointing at Keith.

“And he asked that you hold on to this until you get back.” Shiro said, handing Keith the familiar green jacket.

“But this jacket…”

“We promised that we’d keep him safe.” Shiro reminded

“And we’re going to do just that. We need to get Hagger to bend our way.”

“It would help to remind you about the little friends Isamu had with him.” Kolivan pointed out.

“Lotor and Hagger’s crow. I guess Honerva changed them.” Shiro said.

“Good. Now we got leverage. Shiro let’s go.”

Shiro followed Keith out of boiler room and over to the elevator. Keith leaned against the wall of the elevator and stared down at the jacket in his hands. Lance risked everything to help him right when he tried helping him.

“He’ll be ok. Lance is a lot stronger than we give him credit for.” Shiro said, leaning against the wall with Keith

“I know. If I hadn’t been so reckless though, he wouldn’t be gone trying to save me.” Keith shook out the jacket to hold up when something caught his eye. “Shiro, can you open the right side of the jacket?”

Shiro gave Keith a confused look but did what he asked anyway. What he saw made his eyes widen.

“Is that…?” He breathed

“I think it is and if it is, how did Lance’s brother, a human, get it on his jacket when only a few select spirits even know what this is?”

This made Keith buzz to get to Lance even more. They all needed an answer for this.


	10. Chapter 10

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Arriving at Swampy Bottom reveals a few things to Lance...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Second of the double update, whoo!

Hagger was wrapped up in her clean robe, her hair washed and wrapped in a towel. The mess that had been left on her left her in a worst mood than usual. She sat in her high backed chair while the fake Lotor stuffed his face with the piles of food that surrounded him.

“This gold is not nearly enough to repair the damages.” She yelled at Varkon, Morvok and Kalzap, who were kneeling in front of her, looking at the pile of gold that had been gathered. They thought it was enough but obviously not to Hagger.

“Madam? Isamu saved us. Maybe he should be thanked.” Kalzap suggested only for the three spirits to flinch at her glare.

“ _Isamu_ has run off and left his family behind! Those pigs should be fat by now. Kill them and make them to bacon!”

“Wait a moment.” Everyone looked up to see Keith and Shiro walking in, their eyes going to the green jacket Keith was wearing over his red kimono shirt

“Keith? You’re alive? And Shiro, where have you been? We’ve had an intruder alert bigger than that human.” Hagger demanded to know as her two ‘apprentices’ stood in front of her, their faces blank.

“Um, Shiro told me to call you after Varkon was eaten ma’am.” Morvok said

“You haven’t noticed something important to you is a fake.” Shiro said over Morvok.

Hagger glared at Shiro who stared back down at her before she turned to the pile of gold and grabbed a nugget looking at it, trying to see if it was enchanted, smirking at Shiro when she didn’t see anything obvious. Shiro still didn’t back down, staring down at her, waiting for her to notice. Then she looked over at Lotor. He was stuffing his face full of popcorn, his little body moving. She narrowed her eyes, and lifted her hand, cutting the magic she sense away. Her jaw dropped open as the face of her baby changed into a familiar fuzzy face. One look at the distraught mother and the heads knew they were caught as they changed back in their original form and went hopping out of the kitchen they were all standing in. Hagger let out distraught sound and looked at the gold again to see a pile of dirt sitting in its place. The gold No Face gave wasn’t real.

“No!” she screamed, hitting the pile of the table before rushing out and into Lotor’s room, yelled and searching for her child. Presents and pillows and toys were thrown to the side in hopes of finding the large purple child. “Where are you my dear? My baby, where are you?” at that moment, Keith and Shiro followed in, not looking the least bit concerned knowing Hagger wouldn’t kill them until she knew where her baby was. “You! You two took him, didn’t you! Where’s my baby?” it seemed like it happened in moments as Hagger went from across the room to in front of Shiro and Keith, her white hair out, moving and wrapping around the two of them as they could see the electric power rolling off her body in her anger.

“He’s with your sister.” Keith answered, sounding bored.

“Honerva?” with the admition, the hair flopped down into a mess and the electricity dimmed till only the small sparks jumped off of her. She turned and walked to the nearest chair, her cackle starting to escape her mouth. “I understand. You two will get my baby back, but at a price. So tell me, what is it?”

“Release Isamu from his contract and turn his family back. Then let them go back to the human world.” Keith demanded

“Also, we need access to the Olkari Library. If Isamu agrees to come with us, you will return his family back to their original form and protect them while he goes with us to the library and I mean actually getting in. once he returns, they’ll be free to return to the human world.” Shiro continued.

“Big demand for such a human, but because this is my baby we’re talking about, I’ll adhere to your deal. Get my baby back and Isamu gets his family back safe and sound and the chance to go with you to the Olkari Library if he so agrees. But I have a condition; he has to pass one more test. If he fails, he’s mine.”

* * *

 

The doors opened and Lance got off the train, followed by No Face to Swampy Bottom. It was already dark and Lance didn’t trust his phone to actually work to turn his flashlight on. It was marshy and Lance could see the pools of water so there were no nature places for light. Not only that, it accrued to Lance that he never asked exactly how to get to Honerva’s house. There was only one path so he guessed, and hoped, that it was the only to Honerva’s house or he was screwed. Lotor and the Puff lead the way with the white haired human and spirit following behind. It was quiet and Lance was getting more and more worried as they didn’t seem to be passing anything but more marshes.

He did slow down when he noticed that Lotor slowly started to sink down as the Puff got too tired to continue lifting him. Lotor fell on his feet, like a cat should, and decided to walk ahead with the Puff resting on his back, turning his nose up at Lance’s offer for them to ride on his shoulder.

_‘Looks like I’m not the only one who’s learned to fend for themselves. I guess getting changed into a cat and not having your own mother recognises you could do that.’_

That’s when he heard it, this continuous squeaking sound. Then he saw a light bouncing towards them until a lantern with a long, arm and hand? It bounced closer and Lotor decided to take Lance’s offer as he climbed up Lance’s leg and shirt until the two were sitting comfortably on his shoulder. As the lamp hopped closer it bowed in respect and after Lance and No Face followed, it turned and hopped down the path. It was followed and stopped to make sure it’s followers weren’t too far behind.

Before Lance knew it he could see a large cottage like house. The lamp jumped up to its home on the tall entrance fence, leaving Lance and No Face alone to walk up to the door. Before they could knock, the door swung open, leading into an open living space, the smell of baked goods and warmth escaping out.

“Um, hello?” Lance asked, starting to

“Well, come in.” a familiar voice said.

Lance walked in more and turned to No Face. “Come on. It’s ok.” No Face moved inside, before he moved out of the way as the door closed, and Honerva walked from the door over to the stove.

“So you’re all here. I’ll make some tea.”

Honerva definitely seemed different. She seemed less threatening, almost like it had been mask to scare him. He was still cautious as he approached her, the gold seal in hand.

“Excuse me, ma’am? I wanted to return your seal back to you and apologise to you on behalf of Keith.” He bowed low, trying not to yelp when Lotor dug his claws into his shoulder to keep his balance. “We’re both very sorry.”

Honerva took the seal from Lance’s hands and waited until he lifted his head before lifting the seal for him to see fully. “Do you know what this is?”

“Your seal. Again, really sorry about that. I was hoping that if it’s not too much trouble, can you take the curse on Keith off of him?”

“I would, except the spell I had on the seal is gone.”

Lance blinked. “That slug?” he asked, remembering the black slug he stepped on. “I stepped on that.”

“Stepped on?” Honerva then burst into laughter, looking much more put together than her sister while laughing. For one, she looked sane and she didn’t strike fear into Lance. He guessed she really didn’t like people stealing from her, kinda like Coran. Sweetest guy ever but you got on his bad side and he’d end you. “That slug was in Keith for my sister to control him. That wasn’t mine. The spell I have on this seal can only be broken by true love.”

Lance blinked at Honerva who stood there with a patient smile on her face like she was expecting something, which came in the form of Lance asking, “I’m sorry, did you say true love?”

“Yes.”

“As in, the one, true love kiss and all that stuff?”

“Yes.”

“With a guy I meet like 2 days ago? You’re joking right?”

Honerva put her arm around Lance pushing him towards the large farm table. “Love surprises you when you don’t realise it. Come sit.”

“Oh wait, can you turn these guys back?” Lance asked pointing to the cat and Puff still on his shoulder

“The spell on you two wore off ages ago. I only casted it on them because of my bad mood and my nephew’s disgusting attitude. I think he’s learned his lesson right?”

Lance felt Lotor nod against his chin. Lotor had grown up. He let Honerva sit him down at her table and watched as she cut slices of a strawberry cake while Lotor got off his shoulder to go sniffing at the weaving spindle. He called No Face to sit next to him, reminding him again to behave.

“I’m surprised to see a No Face be so polite.” Honerva said as she passed two plates to her guests.

“I gave him my last thing to save my family, he’d better be grateful. Not only that, the bathhouse was making his hunger worse.” Lance explained

“No surprise. I never got along with my sister. Mostly we because we fell in love with this demon. Hagger got him in the end.” She said nodding towards Lotor who decided to use the spinning wheel as a toy as he started running on it. “My sister can be quite the brat. You’ve seen how she acts. You mentioned something about your family?”

Lance looked down at his tea, thinking about his family. He didn’t regret what he did for No Face or for Keith, he just wished he was closer to figuring out what to do for Allura and Coran.

“We moved from the States to here even though I didn’t want to. We got lost on the way to our house and ended up at the entrance to the spirit realm. Allura works in history and she was interested in the building and after we crossed, Coran smelt the food that was for the spirits.”

“You didn’t eat any?” Honerva asked

Lance shook his head. “I was sure we’d get in trouble so I left Allura and Coran to eat like they wanted and went exploring and that’s how I meet Keith and Shiro. They tried saving me but the spell on my family already took hold. I took a job so I could try and figure out how to break the spell.”

“I wish I could help but her magic is more powerful than mine. Only she has the ability to reverse the spell.”

He had a feeling she’d say that. “Is there any chance you can help Shiro and Keith? They don’t know their names or where they’re from.”

Honerva shook her head, truly looking disheartened. “I can’t, I’m sorry. This is something you have to own. Use what you remember about them.”

Remember about them? “Can’t you give me more of a hint than that? I mean, Keith and Shiro told me to remember what my family looked like but Keith and Shiro themselves? I’m sure we’ve meet before because they know me, but I don’t know.”

“Well that’s something. Once you meet someone, you never really forget them. It just takes a while for you to remember. While you think, the boys and I will make you something. And if you want, you can call me aunty.”

Think about what he remembered about Shiro and Keith? He thought about the dream, memory? Whatever it was he felt like it was important, but all he could remember was water, being small, the feeling of a horn in his hand, his other hand passing through something. For the life of him, he couldn’t figure out what it was or what the rest of the memory was. He tried thinking from when they saved him. They took one look at him and knew exactly who he was and they risked everything to try and keep him safe. They apologised when they had to treat him badly so Hagger wouldn’t figure things out. They let him cry and listened to his complaints about coming to Japan. Shiro trusted him to be able to save Keith and still wanted to protect him even though he could get in trouble. Keith stole for him. They did so much for him even when they had no way home or knew what their names were to return home. He felt like he could help them, but he had no clue.

But what if he couldn’t? Hagger saw him running away from No Face and no doubt with him not being around, she definitely knew he wasn’t in the bath house anymore. What did that mean for his family? She threatened if he complained, they’d be in trouble. What if they were killed after he left? What if Keith died of the curse before it was broken? What if even if it did, his injuries were too much for him? What if Shiro was killed by Hagger for not stopping No Face earlier and then disappearing?

Lance got up from the couch he had been thinking on and went over to the table where No Face was spinning thread with the help of Lotor and the Puff while Honerva knitted away, looking impressed at the spirit’s ability to spin.

“Yes, Isamu? What is it?”

“I keep thinking about Keith and Shiro but I can’t remember anything about them. It’s just, if I’m here and ok, what about them? What is Hagger did something to them or my family and I’m sitting here doing nothing?” Frustrated tears grew as he spoke, angry at himself for not being able to do anything. He let out a sniffle when he felt the back of a hand brushing against his cheek and looked up to see Honerva looking at him sympathetically.

“You must hold on to so much to be so affected. Don’t worry my boy, everything will be fine. Here,” Honerva held up a blue cord, the colours of red and black twisting enough to not make it overbearing, “it’s a new cord for your necklace, softer than the one you have on now. It was made by the threads your friends weaved together.”

The cord was much softer than the one he got from Kolivan and the fact that they had been working hard to work in it made him feel a bit better.

“Thank you guys.” He thanked, untying the cord around his neck and slipped Shay and Allura’s crystals onto the new necklace cord.

As it rested around its neck, the windows shook with a sudden breeze. Honerva didn’t seem bothered as she smiled and turned to Lance. “We seem to have guests. Do you think you can get the door?”

“Sure.” Lance went over and pulled open the door poking his head outside and still at the sight. A familiar red dragon stood in the open yard with a black dragon close by. The red dragon had a very familiar green coat tied around its neck. “Keith! Shiro!” Lance ran out of the house, running towards Keith as he took Keith’s head in his hands and nuzzled close, happy to see him looking much better than he had been before. He did feel another head nuzzling his neck and Lance turned enough to be able to pet Shiro. “You guys are ok. I was so worried.” He could feel the vibrations of the two purring at him, as if trying to calm him down and reassure him.

“That’s love for you.” Lance turned to see Honerva walking over, No Face following as the Puff carried Lotor. Lance felt Keith pull away from him and watched as he approached Honerva, his head bowed low to the witch, as if to apologise. Honerva gently placed her hand between Keith’s horns as she spoke. “Keith, I’ll forgive you for cutting me and stealing my seal but I want you to promise that you and your friend will take care of Isamu.” Keith’s head dipped even lower. “Very well then. Alright you two, time to go home.” Lotor licked his aunt’s check once he was close enough before the Puff flew them over to Lance. “No Face, how about you stay with me? There’s nothing you can offer me and you seem bounds better here than at my sister’s bath house. I could use the company.” No Face was quick to nod in agreement. Honerva walked over to Lance and took his hands in hers. “It was very nice to have you here Isamu. Thank you for showing me just how kind humans can be.”

“No problem. Thank you for not killing us at first sight and also for your advice. Um, I wanted you to know my real name. It’s Lance.”

“Lance. Truly a powerful name. You take care of it alright?” Lance nodded and Honerva once again brushed her hand against Lance’s cheek. “Good boy. Now off you go.”

Lance walked back over to Shiro, Keith following him before he turned and yelled his thanks and goodbye to Honerva and No Face before looking at the two dragons. “So how exactly are we going to do this?”

With matching fanged smirks, Shiro and Keith started to circle around Lance, slowly starting to take off and fly faster around Lance before he started feeling himself slowly start to float. He rose higher and higher before the two corkscrewed around him, their bodies twisting around him as they went flying off into the cold night sky.

It was weird. Lance trusted whatever magic or physics or whatever to keep him between Keith and Shiro as they flew in twisting corkscrews around him. Weird, but really amazing. Lotor didn’t think so though. He kept his claws in Lance’s shirt as he and the Puff floated around. While Lance allowed himself to float around safely, his mind sudden brought up the same memory he had when he and Keith were escaping. Being small and feeling like he was underwater but he was protected. He felt his hand twitch like it was around a horn while the other brushed through fur like hair. Then an image of a blue stuffed lion came to mind.

“Hey guys? Can I tell you something?” curious growls answered him. “I think I remembered something from when I was young that might help you. So my family loved traveling and we came to Japan one trip, around Hanami season. The park we went to was not as crowded but there was still a ton of people so my parents sent us to go walk around while they found a spot. My sister was getting my brother to take pictures of her on this bridge and being a kid, I got bored watching them. They told me to stay in eye sight so I climbed down near the water. I had this blue stuffed lion with me and it slipped out of my hand and into the river so I went chasing after it and was able to get ahead. When I tried leaning over to grab it before it passed me, I remember slipping and I thought I was gonna drown but something, two somethings now that I think about it, guided me to the shore where my stuffed lion was waiting for me. I wanted to know how I was able to get there but my family was more worried about me being ok. It wasn’t until I was actually learning Japanese and we talked about myths and creatures that I found out most rivers have a spirit living in them, usually in the form of a dragon or a serpent. The name of the river was the Takashi Akira River. I think that was you guys and you guys are the river spirits of the Takashi Akira River.”

As soon as the words left his mouth both Shiro and Keith started to shed their scales, temporarily blinding him and then he felt himself falling. Falling now was similar to when he and Keith were falling after meeting Honerva but things seemed to be moving faster. The wind rushed past his ears and the sensation of free falling wasn’t pleasant as he kept his eyes clenched shut. He opened them however when he felt two hands grab him by the wrists and saw Keith and Shiro grinning down at him.

“Lance, you did it. We remember, we were the twin spirits of the Takashi Akira River.” Keith said

“We remember your stuffed animal and you falling in. you were so young and obviously scared that we thought going to you in physical form would help you feel safer.”

Lance was happy that he was right and that they had their memories back because they remembered their name but there was something else Lance really wanted to address. “So your river spirits. That’s great and all, but we’re still falling!” he reminded them, his voice tipping towards screechy as fear slowly started taking grip.

He had closed his eyes again but felt something brush past him on both before he felt himself land on something that bounced. As the pressure from Keith and Shiro falling next to him caused Lance to bounce, he opened his eyes to see he was sitting on a large cloud.

“A cloud?”

“We do have power over water and wind.” Shiro reminded.

“Right. Can we never do that again please?”

“You gave us our name back Lance. We’ll give you whatever you want.” Keith said. Lance noticed that Keith was wearing his jacket. He was glad that the sudden change didn’t cause him to lose it.

“What I want is to be back on solid land please.”

“We need to head back anyway. Hagger is allowing the chance to get your contract ripped and your family saved. Besides,” everyone looked down at Lotor who was hiding his head in a part of the cloud, no doubt traumatized from everything, “I think someone is begging to go back home.”

* * *

 

Hunk scanned the skies, looking for anything that was remotely close to a dragon or two. He had been helping to clean up when the entire building shook for a few moments before it stopped. Everyone got scared because the building shaking meant that Hagger was angry, extremely angry. Everyone waited in fear waiting for something else to happen when Hagger came done and told everyone that her baby – Hunk was sure no one ever saw the kid – was not in the bathhouse and Shiro, Keith and Isamu were getting him back, in exchange for Isamu’s freedom. He just needed to pass a test. She took a group of female and male workers, telling everyone else to finish and be out front.

Hunk couldn’t remember the last time someone bargained with Hagger to gain their freedom. He didn’t count. He regained his name and was technically free, he just had to pay back the money he owed. But having to pass a test to earn your freedom? Those where rare and usually ended up with the person still working there. Hunk couldn’t remember when anyone actually passed Hagger’s test to earn their freedom.

“Don’t worry.” Hunk looked from the sky to Kolivan who was sitting next to him on the roof of the gate that lead into the side garden. “They’ll be here and Isamu will be fine.”

“I hope so. I’m also mad at myself for not seeing that Shiro and Keith could be trusted.”

“I don’t think they’d hold it against you. They were very different from when they first arrived. The arrival of Isamu changed things.” Kolivan said, a smile on his face remembering how scared Isamu was but still determined to stand up to him. “Something tells me that he’ll be perfectly fine, especially if Shiro and Keith have anything to say about it.”

Hunk still didn’t understand how Lance was in love with both Keith and Shiro. He only knew them a day. But Hunk wouldn’t deny that love tended to work in mysterious ways. He had a feeling that if Lance heard what Kolivan had to say, he’d be as surprised as Hunk was. Hunk looked up and his eyes widened at two specks getting bigger and bigger in the sky. “It’s them!”

The whole bath house seemed to pop out of the woodwork so to speak as they looked up into the sky.

Lance was too busy cursing the twin dragons as they thought it’d be a good idea to release the cloud. Shiro used his magic to slow their decent enough that Lance didn’t feel like they were falling to their death but that didn’t mean he let his grip on Keith go. Once they were finally on the ground, Lance let go of Keith and set his feet on the floor

“Never, do that again, please.”

“I don’t think letting Hagger know that we have our names back yet is a good idea. The cloud would have made it obvious.” Shiro explained. “Best to keep that card to ourselves.”

“I see you haven’t brought back my baby.” Lance then took notice of Hagger standing by the front door of the bath house in front of a makeshift pen of pigs, all the workers looking at them. He was sure he was a sight to see in Keith’s arms a strange looking cat and Puff sitting on Shiro’s shoulders. Lance nodded to Lotor, letting him know it was time. Lotor had learned his lesson about being spoilt, his aunt taught him that much. Lance had every right to leave him but since he didn’t, he was even surer Lotor would be much nicer.

Hagger looked annoyed as she watched the same Puff lift the cat toward her, just like when Isamu brought him with him before. She was about to start yelling when the cat was dropped but baby Lotor dropped down in its place.

“Momma!”

“My baby! Oh you poor thing, you were a cat. Oh I’m so sorry I didn’t realise, my precious boy.” Hagger said, cooing at her baby and she hugged him and pulled his down to plant kissed all over his purple face. That’s when she noticed that Lotor was standing. “You’re standing all by yourself? When did you do that?”

“I learned all by myself. You were always busy so I had a ton to do.” He said proudly.

“Hagger, don’t forget our deal!” Keith reminded from where he and the others stood.

“Don’t forget my condition! He still has to pass my test.” Hagger reminded

“Stop it momma. I was really mean to Isamu and when Aunty Honerva turned me into a cat, he could have left me, but he didn’t. He’s really nice and we had fun together.” Lotor said, Hagger looking completely surprised

“But a deal is a deal sweetie.” Hagger tried explaining.

“If you make him cry, I’ll be angry at you.” He threatened. Apparently he hadn’t lost all of his spoiledness, though if anything, neither had Lance. Not when it helped in getting something important.

“Hey Aunty!” Lance called. He wasn’t scared of Hagger anymore and he wasn’t about to let her push him around. “I’ll take your test.” He walked over to Hagger and Lotor, not flinching as Hagger glared at him for the nickname. “I’m ready.”

“Hmph, this way.” She ordered, Lance giving Lotor a confident look. “Choose which of these pigs here are your family. Pick correctly and you all get to go home, but you get one try. Think you can get it?”

Lance looked at all the pigs, Shiro’s words resounding in his head the first time he saw Coran and Allura as pigs. He had one shot at this, but there was something wrong.

“Um, I think there’s a mistake. None of these pigs are Coran and Allura.”

“Are you sure?” Hagger asked, waving his contract in his face to remind him of what he was risking.

Lance nodded confidently. “They’re not here.”

At Lance’s confirmation, the contract in Hagger’s hand exploded and Lance saw that the pigs changed into workers.

“You got it!” the yelled, causing all the workers to cheer. How could they not? A simple human beat Hagger and gained his freedom and saved the bath house from a raging monster.

“Thanks everyone.” Lance called

“Alright, everyone back to work!” Hagger yelled obviously annoyed.

“Forgetting something?” Lance saw that Shiro and Keith had come up to them, and Keith looked at Hagger.

Hagger let out a huff and pulled out another paper, this one gold compared to the basic white of his contract. “One letter to get you into the library.”

“The Olkari Library?” Lance asked

“Yeah. Lance, we need to ask you something.” Keith pulled off the jacket and held one side open, showing a symbol on the side of Lance’s jacket. It was blue, two vectors pointing towards each other with two lines on either side of the bottom one. “Has this always been here?”

Lance nodded. “My brother put it there. It’s a patch he got and got my mom to sew it on. Why?”

“This marks the protector of an Altean spirit. They’re they only ones to have a ranking system because of how powerful they are and to have this symbol and a few others mean your protecting Altean royalty basically. How did your brother get a hold of it?” Keith asked

“That’s another reason we want to go to the Library. We could get an answer to how you changed so much and how your brother is connected. If you agree to come with us, Hagger promised to keep your family safe until we come back and then you and your family can all leave safely. But it’s only if you want to Lance.”

Lance thought. He was curious as to why he was like this and now the new information made the curiosity burn more.

“You promise you’ll take care of them?” Lance asked Hagger

“No harm will come to them.” she said, looking ready to leave.

“Alright. I know I want to go back but I have too many questions now. I’ll go with you. I’ll go with you to the Library.”


	11. Chapter 11

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Before they get to the Library, they need to visit a certain spirit

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I found time, so enjoy  
> shishiodoshi is those wooden containers that fill with water that are usually in the garden, you tend to see them a lot in anime when they're at traditional houses  
> kamon is a family crest  
> tokonoma is basically a room with an elevated seat where the head of a household will great guests or have meeting

Lance stared at the ceiling of the boiler room, waiting for Shiro and Keith. He couldn’t believe it. He was free and he saved his family. Honestly, he should be crossing back over to the human world, hoping the whole prefecture wasn’t looking for them since their neighbours had to of known they were coming. Point was, after getting out of his contract, he should be saying goodbye to all the friends he made here and to Shiro and Keith and go and try live his life normally with all the new knowledge he had. But instead he was heading to a mysterious library to hopefully get answers as to, one, why was a potion that was only supposed to give him the markings of an Altean spirit gave him the marks _and_ change his hair colour _and_ pointed his ears and two, why was the marking of a protector of an Altean spirit on the inside of his brother’s jacket. The only thing that seemed to be a mood booster was the knowledge that Keith and Shiro had their name back. Though, he was a bit curious about how they were both river spirits. Odd question to have when you were about to go on another big adventure, but it seemed to be distracting him from freaking out.

“Kolivan?” Lance pushed himself off from the floor, where he had been covered by the sootballs – thankfully they didn’t leave a mess on him – and looked at the Shadow Galra Spirit who was drinking tea and eating rice crackers at his low table. “So I figured out Keith and Shiro’s original names and they told me they were twin river spirits. Are they related?”

“Related? No, quiet honestly most spirits make families. Very few, extremely few actually are related or have kids. If they say they’re twin spirits, they were put to be the spirits of that river, most likely because they were close. If they were humans before though, which is rare for them to become powerful spirits, they might be related or at the very least close.”

Lance went to ask something else but stopped when the whole bath house shook again. Lance looked confused but Kolivan looked up at the roof with a bored look on his face.

“I see Hagger’s upset again. You said Shiro and Keith went to go see her?” the purple furred spirit asked.

“Uh, yes? That was Hagger?”

“Before she came to gather workers to turn into pigs, she made the place shake. If I remember correctly, Shiro and Keith had gone to go see her. They really know how to push her buttons. They have their name now so they’re much more powerful than before, so it makes me wonder if they’re going to leave.”

“Leave the bathhouse? And do what?”

Kolivan shrugged, “become new spirits for a river, wander, join a village or a traveling group of sorts. Whatever they want. I won’t blame them from wanting to get away from that witch.”

The small side door opened and Shiro and Keith crawled through, looking extremely proud of themselves.

“So what did you two do to make our esteemed witch of the bathhouse so mad?”

“We told her we weren’t going to be her apprentices anymore. She can’t control us anymore without the slugs, so she just got really annoyed.” Shiro explained

“Slug? That thing I stepped on? Honerva mentioned it was something Hagger used to control Keith.”

“We both had them. I found out about them when Keith and I got separated during a mission. I got hurt and didn’t think I’d get back when I was saved by another spirit. He was a Galra Spirit like Kolivan named Ulaz.” Shiro explained

“Ah yes. I know him. He and his mate Thace wander around the spirit world. He’s an exceptional healer.” Kolivan said

Shiro nodded and continued. “He found me and healed me up and removed the slug, telling me what it did. Once I was better and he said I was good to go, I went looking for Keith, to try and bring him to Ulaz so he could remove his slug. But when we came back to the last place I saw Ulaz, he was gone. We looked for a little while before we had to go back.”

“So you stayed for Keith?” Lance asked

“I couldn’t leave him here to be controlled but it worked out even better since only months later, you appeared. It all worked out for a reason.” Shiro explained, both spirits looking gratefully at Lance.

Lance looked away, a bit embarrassed at the attention. “All I did was stick my hand down his throat. It was the adrenaline.”

“Well it was well worth it, even if I can still taste that stuff in the back of my throat.” Keith said

“So Hagger’s not going to let you stay here. I thought the plan was to stay the night and get a headstart?” Kolivan asked

“Which I don’t understand because it was sunrise by the time we were flying back.” Lance threw in, standing up and letting all the sootballs fall off of him before dusting himself off.

“We were hoping to talk to some of the guests to get an exact location of the library.” Keith said, looking embarrassed

“Wait, you didn’t know where it was and you wanted to take me there? Do you two know anything about planning or is this all on Keith’s impulses?”

“Hey!”

“Besides,” Shiro interrupted, “it works out because Keith and I have to go see a spirit and I know he’d be more than willing to help us out because of you Lance.”

Lance blinked in confusion. “Is this another spirit I don’t know about that wants me?”

“No, but you did help him out on your first day.” Shiro said, hoping to trigger a memory for Lance.

Lance thought as hard as he could. His first day of work was the first time he really interacted with No Face. The only other spirit he remembered was…

“The River Spirit that came in as a Stink Spirit?”

“That was the river spirit for the Sacred Isuzu River.”

Lance knew that river. It was Ise Prefecture and said to be the home of the Sacred Mirror. The water was supposed to purify you.

“That river, I helped the spirit from that river?” Lance asked in disbelief.

“Yep. He’s responsible for making sure every river has a spirit to protect it so we have to go see him to let him know what happened to us. I’m sure he’d know where the library is and be willing to help you. It’s not every day a human saves a high ranking river spirit.”

Lance knew something; he was probably never going to have a more interesting adventure than this one. A small part of him didn’t want it end because it meant he’d be leaving Shiro and Keith and he really didn’t want to think about that.

* * *

 

Lance gaped at the size of the house, mansion almost, in front of him. It was a traditional style house, the sounds of the shishiodoshi echoing from the stone garden Lance could see. It was amazing to see. Lance had seen some amazing places his first trip to Japan and the 2 weeks he spent with Shay, but this was something else.

“This is amazing. Is that kamon on the top, the thing that looks like a mirror?” Lance asked looking at the mirror shaped family crest with a detailed frame.

“It’s the Sacred Mirror of Japan.” Keith explained. “The reason no one really knows if it’s at the temple is because it’s used as a portal for the River Spirt of the Ise River and those he allows to use it.”

“Wow.”

“It’ll look more amazing inside. Come on.” Shiro lead them to the front door and knocked on the door which was immediately open by a woman in a blue kimono who a pale face, fin ears and extremely large eyes.

“Welcome spirits of the Takashi Akira River and um, Altean Spirit who’s heavily perfumed in the stench of a human?” the spirit said, hiding her nose behind her kimono sleeve. Lance just groaned, he’d never hear the end of it. “Please, come in. my master is waiting for you.”

They followed the servant into the mansion, Lance taking in all the decorations. They stopped at a shoji sliding door, that the servant opened before gesturing them to go in. Sitting at a tokonoma, the amount of layers he was wearing to show his status was a tall man. He was old and his face was similar to the mask Lance remembered, with the same eyebrows and moustache, his eye closed in peace but he knew when the three came and sat respectfully, bowing their heads in respect.

“Welcome spirits of the Takashi Akira River. I’m glad you’ve finally reappeared again. And welcome to my saviour. Thank you very much for your help, the heavy rains sent all that garbage into my river turning me into that stink spirit. I knew that you were no ordinary human to get a job at the bath house and I’m glad to see I was right. Your hair is much whiter than when we last met.”

“Yeah,” Lance said, fingering his white tresses, “that’s why we’ve come here. We need to get into the Olkairi Library.”

“I’d be more than willing to get you a letter in.” the river spirit said.

“Thank you, that’s very kind of you, but Hagger gave us one. We were hoping you could tell us the location of it as she seemed to of left that part out.” Lance asked

“What is your name?”

“Lance.”

“Tell me Lance, why do you want to go into the Olkairi Library. I’m assuming you were working at that bath house for a reason, to free your family perhaps? You don’t work there anymore since you’re here, so why do you stay in the spirit world and not return home?”

Lance held open the side of his jacket with the patch on it. He knew even with his eyes closed that the spirit had to of known what it was as his eyes opened with surprise. “My brother gave me this jacket and according to Keith and Shiro, this marks a protector of an Altean Spirit. When I came here, I took a potion that was supposed to mimic the looks of an Altean Spirit which should have just been the markings but the morning after my hair starts to change and my ears were pointed. By the time you left and I was done working for the night, my hair had faded completely from brown to white. This entire chain of events has left me with questions I need answers to or it won’t stop bugging me after I leave. I’ve started wondering if by some chance, maybe there was something with my family that made me this way and I need to know. That’s why we need to go to the Library.”

The spirit nodded. “Very well. I can tell you to location; however the current librarian won’t be there today. They're out collecting any books that any spirits took out. I’m afraid you’ll have to wait until tomorrow to find answers. But not to worry, it’s not far from here and I’m opening my home to you to stay the night.”

They three bowed their heads in thanks, “thank you.”

“Now, I would like to talk to my dear river spirits alone. Lance, Aoi will take care of you until I release them back to you.” The river spirit asked, as the door slid open again, the same servant waiting patiently for Lance.

Aoi lead him away from the meeting room and out onto the wrap around veranda. The garden was even more beautiful than he thought. It was the perfect Zen garden and he could see a small bridge over a koi pond.

“Shall I bring you tea and snacks?” Aoi asked

“If that’s ok. Are there outside shoes?” Lance really wanted to see the koi.

“Yes, please go ahead while I get refreshments.” Aoi bowed her head before disappearing inside.

Lance quickly put the slippers on and made his way to the bridge, looking over the railing to see the many koi fish swimming gracefully in the water. As he looked, he realised his necklace with Allura and Shay’s charms had fallen out from behind his shirt. Lance did wonder if there was something with his family that caused the potion to react so greatly. There was a small part of him that wondered if he was adopted. When he was really young, completely noticing every difference between him and his family, he noticed he was the only person in his whole family to have blue eyes. Everyone else had brown except his dad who had hazel but Lance knew his were on a completely different spectrum. He had even been mistaken Alfor’s son once before he started talking again. It wasn’t something Lance didn’t want to think about, not being his parent’s son. It did raise the question of why his brother had the patch. Was he an Altean Spirit?

If that were true, he’d properly get fewer comments on how he smelt.

He fingered the crystals as he looked at two koi fish. One was all orange, though it more red through the water and an almost pure black one. His mind started going to the two river spirits who had risked everything to save him. Only 2 days ago he thought they were doing nothing but tricking him into working at the bath house, but Shiro risked whatever trouble he’d be in with Hagger and Keith risked death from Honerva. They risked a lot to help him and that meant more to him than he could say.

“Master Lance?” Aoi was back and waiting for him. She poured a cup of green tea once he reached her and sat down. “Do you enjoy my Lord’s grounds?” she asked, pushing the cup towards him

“I do. They’re beautiful. I’ve never seen anything like it.”

“If you don’t mind my asking, how do you know the Lords of the Takashi Akira River?” Aoi asked

“Oh, well do you want the story of how they saved me from drowning or how they saved me from being killed by a witch? Your choice.”

“Oh start from the beginning please. River Spirits don’t usually interact with humans as much as these two did. You must mean quiet a lot to them.”

Lance shrugged, “I mean I guess. They didn’t have a ton of memories after going to the bath house. But they took one look at me and remembered this little kid who dropped his stuffed lion in their river and almost drowned trying to get it back. They didn’t have to help me, they could have just brought me straight to Hagger but they didn’t. I’d like to say that I mean a lot to them but I don’t know.”

Aoi sighed, “It’s so romantic, them risking everything for you.”

Aoi’s comment made him think back to what Honerva had said, true love broke her curse on her seal. Lance wasn’t blind; he knew Shiro and Keith were good looking people. He was in a poly relationship once, but he kept feeling left out and they told him they were happier together so he left the relationship. Lance thought about the idea of being in a poly relationship with Keith and Shiro and he felt his heart stutter in excitement. But that couldn’t be right; he only knew them for like 2 days.

But…he always heard his dad talk about how he took one look at his mom and knew she was the one. Would it be so strange that the same thing happened to Lance, but with all the stress of the bath house, he never realised?

Lance shook his head. He wasn’t about to jump into a relationship that quickly. If it happened, it happened, though Lance was sure the chances of that were extremely low.

* * *

 

“Are you sure? This is what you want?” the Spirit of the Isuku River asked

“We haven’t been proper river spirits in years. Our river doesn’t exist anymore and it’s rare to find a river without a spirit protecting it. Being wandering spirits doesn’t bother us.” Shiro said

The old spirit looked down at the twin spirits before nodding, “very well. You have regained your powers after regaining your name so it makes no sense that it should be taken away just because you don’t have a home when you’ve been without one for so long.”

“Thank you.”

“I’m sure you’ll keep that human safe during your mission. He’s certainly an interesting one. Though I will admit, during our meeting, I thought I felt something familiar from him.”

“Familiar?” Keith asked

“His aura reminded me of a spirit I once knew. But that can’t be possible, Lance is human.”

“We did bring up the possibility of Lance being part spirit but he said that can’t be. His family is from Cuba, not Japan.” Shiro said

“Of course. Hopefully it won’t take long to find answers. Thank you for allowing me to ask your story. I’m sure Lance is wondering where you are.” The spirit said, dismissing them in so little words.

“Thank you very much.” The two said, bowing their heads before getting up and exiting the room. Once they were outside, they let out huge sighs of relief. They knew they had to talk to the higher ranking spirit about what happened to them, but that didn’t mean it made it any easier. Speaking to such a high level official was terrifying. That and having him ask to protect Lance along with the promise they made to Honerva, they didn’t want to break those promises.

“We should go check on him huh?” Shiro suggested.

Keith nodded and followed Shiro but his mind wondered. What would they find out about Lance when they could finally get into the library? What if it wasn’t good and Lance hated them for upheaving his life? What if it just left more questions than the library could answer? What if-

“Keith.” The red dragon looked up to see Shiro looking at him understandingly, “I can hear your brain going thousand miles a minute from over here.”

“Sorry, it’s just…”

“I know. I’m worried too. But we have to be strong for him.” Shiro said, resting his tattooed hand on Keith’s shoulder. “We’ll help him get through everything.”

Keith nodded, knowing Shiro was right. They’d take care of Lance. “We should go find him.”

They walked outside where they found Lance talking with Aoi.

“But I like how your hair looks, it’s like ice crystals.” Aoi was saying to Lance as he ran his hand through his hair.

“Thanks I guess. I don’t know, I’m just used to my brown hair is all.” Lance explained

“Well I think you should embrace the change. Ah, Spirits of the Takashi Akira River.” Aoi greeted when she spotted them, Lance turning and giving them a smile

“Shiro and Keith, please.” Shiro requested, pointing to himself and Keith to help Aoi.

“Of course. Oh, you two have seen Master Lance with his brown hair correct?”

“Yeah, first time we saw him at the bath house. Why?” Keith questioned

“Master Lance doesn’t believe me when I say he looks good with his white hair. What do you think?”

“Lance always looks good.” Keith said bluntly, Lance turning red and Shiro having to turn his head away to keep his laughter in.

Keith was usually so blunt and with the slug in him dulling his emotions, Shiro knew Keith didn’t think about how his honest words would affect someone. Though, Shiro couldn’t disagree with him. Lance was good looking, no matter what colour hair he had. When he heard Kolivan talk about the curse on Honerva’s seal and how it was broken, he couldn’t believe it. True love? The only thing closest to love he got was with Keith but being under Hagger’s control they didn’t have opportunities to be with each other. He wasn’t sure if Lance fell in love with them but Shiro could honestly see himself falling for Lance. Love was so confusing though and there was also Keith and how he’d feel.

“You don’t just say things like that!” Lance yelled at Keith, who just tilted his head in confusion

“Why? It’s the truth. I thought it when we first met and I still do.”

Shiro didn’t think Lance could turn more red.  Shiro was starting to wonder if maybe Keith did feel something. To be honest, Keith didn’t really spout out compliments like that.

“Oh, just, ugg!” Lance sputtered turning away, his white hair standing out from his blushing face

Keith finally seemed to notice Shiro stifling his laughter and looked put out. “What?”

“Nothing, it’s nothing. Aoi, if it’s not too much trouble, can we also have some tea?”

“Of course. I’ll go get more cups. Please sit.”

Aoi disappeared back inside and Lance took an interest in the floor as the two spirits sat on opposite sides of him. Lance was embarrassed with Keith’s comments. They made his heart stutter in a confusing way that he didn’t want to think about. In a way that shouldn’t happen because it couldn’t, right?

“So, what did the River Spirit want to talk to you guys about?” Lance asked, still looking at his feet

“Oh he wanted to know the whole story of what happened to us after we lost our river. Then he asked if he should go ahead and place us in a new one. It would mean taking on a whole new identity but we decided not to.” Keith explained, finally getting Lance’s attention.

“Wait, what? Seriously? Does that mean you aren’t river spirits anymore?”

“Not all river spirits have a river to themselves. We didn’t want to lose who we were after just gaining it back so we agreed we’d be wandering spirits.” Shiro explained. “After we help you, we might go explore a bit, maybe even join a mixed spirit village.”

“And you guys are fine with that?” Lance asked

“We are. But, let’s not focus on that. Tomorrow, we’re finally going to get answers at the library.” Shiro reminded.

That’s right, tomorrow Lance would find out just how connect his family was to Altean spirits. He just hoped he didn’t hate the answer


	12. Chapter 12

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> They arrived at the library...

Lance had visited a lot of places in the two weeks Allura and Coran gave him and Shay, but Lance felt like he’d need all the time in the world to find a place like the Olkari Library. It towered over him, the different levels get smaller as it went up but not by much that it was obnoxious to look at. The curved roofs looked more Chinese to Lance that Japanese but this was a library that appeared all over the spirit world. Lance wouldn’t be surprised if he found different Asian influences inside. On either side of the door were stone lions, mouths open as if to welcome the guests. The green paint with the gold trims shewn in the sunlight, making the building look like it belonged in the forest they were standing in.

“Welcome to the Olkari Library, home to all the answers for all the questions you could ever have. Are you ready?” Shiro asked

Now that he was standing in front of the place, Lance realised he wasn’t. He was scared that he’d find something out he didn’t want to know.

“Lance? Are you ok?” Shiro asked as he noticed Lance taking slight steps back.

Lance shook his head. “I’m scared.”

“Of what?”

Lance took hold of his necklace, feeling the crystals digging into his hand with how tightly he held onto it. “What if I go looking and I find out something I don’t want to hear, like what if you were right and my family isn’t my family? What if somehow the plane crash was my fault? What if, what if-”

“Hey, hey Lance. Breath ok?” Shiro said placing his hands on Lance’s shoulders. “Look at me, take deep breaths and listen to me ok? You said your family was worried after you fell into our river. Your brother left his jacket with you because he wanted you to stay safe and he didn’t want you to feel lonely. Lance, if by some chance your family adopted you, that doesn’t mean they weren’t your family. They loved you, you know they did.”

“I know but, I don’t want find out I don’t belong to my parents.”

“Lance, you do belong to your parents, no matter what anyone says. You were their son, no matter what. Yes we came to find out why your brother has that mark on his jacket, but that doesn’t change anything. It’s to mark a protector and he gave it to you so you would be protected. Don’t think for a minute your family didn’t love you Lance.”

Lance still felt scared but he knew Shiro was right. His parents loved their children and his siblings would dote on him whenever he wanted the attention. His family loved him, even if by some chance, he wasn’t theirs. Lance took another deep breath and ran his free hand through his hair, trying to calm down.

“Let’s just, let’s get this over with.”

Pushing Shiro’s hands off, Lance walked up the steps and passed the lions, not seeing their eyes flash gold. He started to pull the heavy wooden door open, when they swung open, flinging him back onto the landing. He heard his name being called by the two river spirits but as he started to push himself up, he was forced back down when something landed on him and he felt something being pressed against his neck.

“Who are you and what are you doing here? Don’t you know only those with permission are allowed passed the lions?”

The person or spirit crouched over him wasn’t like the ones he had seen before. They had cream skin and their head reminded Lance of an acorn. What Lance could assume was hair was a light brown colour, similar to their tawny eyes that were rimmed in white. They looked innocent judging from how small they were but the glowing green katar near his neck showed Lance they weren’t.

“Answer me!” they yelled bringing Lance back to what was happening.

“Matt?” Lance looked over to where he could see Shiro and Keith standing a few steps below where he was.

“What is it with all these English names? Hunk, Keith and now Matt?” Lance asked.

“How do you know my brother?” the spirit asked, ignoring Lance

“We met him a long time ago on a mission. If he’s your brother, then you’re Pidge right? I didn’t know Matt was a guardian of the Library.” Shiro explained

Lance watched as Pidge narrowed their eyes before pulling the katar away from Lance’s neck and getting off of him. Keith helped him up, not saying anything as Lance clung to him, his blue eyes locked on Pidge in case they tried anything.

“To answer your question, my brother’s name is Hiroshi. Matt is the name he goes by when not in the library. He liked what the name meant so he kept it. But you will only call me Pidge, got it?” they demanded

“Understood and this is for you.” Keith said pulling Hagger’s letter from his sleeve and holding out for Pidge.

It was snatched from his hand and the tawny eyes looked over the letter before she folded it back up and stuffed it into their green shirt. “Welcome to the Olkari Library.” They turned around and walked through the open doors, turning their head and beckoning the group in when Pidge saw they weren’t following. The grand foyer was huge and beautifully decorated with different scrolls and paintings. Underneath a painting of a lion was a desk covered in books and scrolls. Pidge went around the desk shoving books out of the way so they could properly see the group from behind the desk. “What can we help you find?”

Lance was still latched onto Keith arm in apprehension that Pidge would attack him again but Keith tapped his hand to get him to answer.

“Um, I’m not really an Altean Spirit.” Lance started, pointing at his markings, still not letting go of Keith

“Yeah, the stench of human spelled that out for me.” Pidge interrupted; not at all bothered by the glare they gained from Lance. He was getting really sick of people talking about his scent. It had to of been 3 days of eating the food hadn’t it?

“Yeah, whatever, anyway. When I came here, these two gave me a potion that was supposed the mimic the appearance of an Altean Spirit except it gave me both the markings and my white hair as well as my pointed ears. Also we discovered that in my brother’s jacket was a patch the held the symbol of a protector of an Altean Spirit and we need to figure out how the two are connected.”

“A symbol of a protector of an Altean Spirit? Show me.”

Lance held open the side of the jacket that held the blue symbol and watched Pidge’s eyes widen.

“I never thought I’d see it but, that symbol is usually used for the royal family. Not really considered that, but they have the most power. How did your brother get that indeed? Well, first we should look through everything about Altean Spirits.” Pidge said, starting to look excited.

Their hand glowing green, Pidge swiped it across the air and before Lance could blink, there were suddenly bookcases and bookcases of books and baskets holding scrolls surrounding them. Lance looked around and realised they were in between bookcases like in a regular library, nothing signalling they were still in the grand foyer except for the desk that Pidge was still standing behind in the middle of the pathway. Lance noticed books starting to pull themselves out just enough to stand out in the long lengths of shelves.

“Start with those and when you have new questions, come find me. I still have books to put away. Matt is traveling around so it’s just me and trust me, even with complete control of this place, it’ll take me forever.” One of the stacks glowed green and followed Pidge as they disappeared from the pathway and into a different part of the library.

Lance looked around at all the different books Pidge suggested and sighed. “This is gonna take forever.”

“Let’s just check them out and see what we have. If we don’t think it answers anything about Altean Spirits, then we’ll put it back. What questions about them do we need answered?” Keith asked

“How about how the hell they’re connected to my family?”

“So humans in general. Don’t worry Lance.” Keith said seeing how stressed Lance looked, “we’ll find the answers ok? We’ll split this up, Shiro and I know more about the potion so we’ll see if we can find anything about that since it’ll be harder and you look for stuff about Alteans interactions with humans. Maybe we can find records of any high ranking spirits interacting with humans.”

Lance nodded and started his search. He realised the books weren’t hard or soft cover books but the pages binded in the traditional way, which meant they were written in Japanese – though Lance could clearly understand them. he hazard a guess that the magic of the library made reading it clear – and trying to keep the book open was a nightmare. The pages were folded and the folded side was facing outwards and the binding on the spin made it hard to keep the book open and they always seemed to be closing shut in Lance’s hands. It was even more annoying to watch Keith and Shiro poke through the pages with no problem.

The most he could find out that answered his questions was that Altean Spirits had the ability to turn into humans, being able to live among them for years and years. High ranking Alteans would mostly stay in the spirit world because they were able stop conflicts and such from breaking out. They stopped spirits from trying to break out into the human world and wreak havoc. It was rare if they did and so far he couldn’t find anything about the royal Alteans anyway.

Lance sighed, feeling annoyed closed the book he was reading and dropped it on the pile of books he had on the floor with him. “I’m going to take a break. I can’t focus anymore.” Lance told the two spirits as he got up.

“Are you going to go exploring? Do you want us to come with you?” Shiro asked

Lance shook his head. “I’ll be fine. I’ll be right back.” Lance walked down the aisles, walking down the aisles, looking at all the different bookcases full of information. Here he could figure out everything he ever needed to know, but it was feeling impossible with how little information they had so far. Lance knew he was being impatient but he needed to know. It seemed that with him trying to ignore finding an answer to his many questions, his mind decided to drift to a question he’d been avoiding. The whole ‘true love’ issue with Keith and Shiro.

Lance didn’t know whether or not to believe Honerva’s claim that true love broke her curse. Lance truly believed in love at first sight. He grew up on stories on how his dad saw his mom at a party and after they talked the rest of the night, they both told their parents they found the person they wanted to be with for the rest of their lives. His parents were happy together. Yes they had their issues, what couple didn’t, but Lance could tell how they felt for each other, even at his age. The idea that maybe he liked them both was a bit terrifying though. For one, the first time he met them, they were in their dragon form and the next time, his family had been turned into pigs while they were telling him to leave. After that, his mind had been focused on saving his family and trying to survive the bath house. Though, he did want to see them when they were supposed to be getting back from their mission. He wanted to know they were ok and to feel safe again. Just being around them made him feel safe and protected. It was different the safe feeling he got from his parents or his family or even Alfor.

“Ugg, why are feeling so hard to figure-OW!” Lance was interrupted from his out loud thoughts when a book was dropped on his head. The other books Lance and the others had been looking through were soft cover books while this one was a hard cover, and thicker.

“I’m so sorry, are you alright?”

Rubbing the forming bump on his head, Lance looked up to see a purple spirit with familiar shadow arms coming from his back. The bookcases were tall so they had been using a ladder to get the really high up books, but this spirit decided he’d rather scale up like a spider.

“Are you a Galra Shadow spirit?” was the first thing out of Lance’s mouth.

The spirit seemed surprised at the question as the shadow hands lowered him down onto the ground until he stood in front of Lance. For one, he was tall, almost as tall as Kolivan. His skin tone was similar in terms of being two toned, but he was lighter than Kolivan and he didn’t have the fuzzy ears Kolivan did. Instead his ears were pointed and he had a Mohawk of white hair compared to Kolivan’s braid.

“Tell me young human, how exactly do you know the name of my kind?”

“Probably because I’ve worked with one.” Lance said

The spirit leaned down and sniffed Lance, who leaned back slightly in discomfort. “At a bathhouse? Hagger’s I assume?”

Lance blinked. “How the hell did you figure that out?”

“You smell of bath salts and Hagger’s bath house is right near an entrance to the human world. She’s been known to have a few human visitors, though usually they eat the offerings to the spirits and turn into animals. How did you avoid that?”

Lance shrugged, “I thought we’d get in trouble so I didn’t eat and I went exploring a little and met two spirits who told me to get out of there. I had to get a job at the bath house to try and save my family.”

“And you succeed I assume?” Lance nodded. “Then I have to ask, what in Galra’s name are you doing here?”

“Looking for answers. My hair turned like this because of a potion that’s supposed to mimic the looks of an Altean Spirit. And apparently my brother is connected to Altean Spirits somehow but finding the answers isn’t as easy as I thought.”

The spirit looked amused. “Of course not. If it were that easy, it wouldn’t make the journey of finding answers so worth it.”

Lance groaned. It was like talking to Allura or Coran when they would be giving him advice.

“My name is Ulaz. What is your name, young human?”

“Lance. Wait, did you say Ulaz? Are you that wandering spirit Shiro was telling me about?”

Ulaz’s gold eyes flashed with recognition of the name. “How do you know Shiro?”

“He’s one of the-”

“Lance! Where are you?”

Lance turned from where he could hear Keith calling for him. “I’m over here!”

Keith turned the corner down into the section Lance was in almost moments later. “We think we found something. Who’s this?”

“Uh right, this is Ulaz. Ulaz, this is Keith. He and Shiro…they’re twin river spirits.”

“So you’re Keith. I remember Shiro telling me about you.”

“So you’re Ulaz. Shiro came looking for you after he left but you disappeared.”

“I wander off after I’m sure the person I’m helping is ok.” Ulaz said, looking a bit apologetic.

“He’s here, you should meet him!” Lance said

“I thought you were looking for your answers.”

“And Shiro and I just found something about the potion.”

Lance waved off the concerns, “it’ll take like 5 minutes. I’ll go get Shiro.”

Lance dashed off, leaving Keith and Ulaz by themselves.

Lance retraced his steps but Shiro wasn’t in the section he left them. He went peeking down the other aisles when he spotted Pidge, putting the books and such back in their proper places.

“Pidge, have you seen Shiro?”

“He’s not with you?”

“We kinda separated when I wanted a break and Keith came looking for me.”

Pidge closed their eyes and seemed to focus before opening their eyes. “He’s a bit farther from here. You stay here while I go get him. I have a feeling you’ll get lost if I tell you where to go.” Pidge rested the stack of books on the floor before disappearing. Lance leaned against the shelves, looking around when his eye caught something on the stack of books

_Wandering River Spirits-21 st Century_

_‘River Spirits? Didn’t Shiro and Keith mention that they were wandering spirits now that they don’t have the river anymore?’_

Deciding to be nosy, Lance picked up the book and opened it. It was a list of different wandering spirits, a small history of how they became spirits of their former rivers, what happened to the rivers and what happened to them after, in alphabetic order. He flicked through the book until he reached the ‘T’s and found Takashi Akira

“The Takashi Akira River was hosted by twin spirits who were formally human. After drowning in the river, their souls became protectors of the river of where they died. Takashi and Akira were…lovers? And the spirits thought their love was powerful enough for them to stay together even after death.”

_‘Shiro and Keith are together? If their love is so strong that they were turned into River Spirits together, then why do I think I even have a chance?’_


	13. Chapter 13

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After Lance learns about Shiro an Keith, he needs to sort out his feelings and he starts getting answers....

Shiro looked over at Lance who had been quiet since Pidge found him and brought him to him. In fact, he hadn’t even looked at Shiro since tell him Ulaz was in the library.

“Shiro?” Shiro realised Ulaz had been talking to him but his focus had been on Lance that he didn’t even realise

“Sorry, what did you say?” Shiro asked, pulling his gaze away from Lance

“I was asking about your arm. Are you still able to use magic?”

Shiro looked down at his tattooed arm. When he met Ulaz, his arm had been badly injured. He was sure he was going to lose it, be it from blood loss or from the power locked in his body trying to escape when Ulaz appeared and saved him. The tattoos were on his arm to keep his powers contained and also help with the healing process. Shiro also noticed how much easier and fluid it felt to call his power with his tattooed arm.

“Yes I am. I haven’t had any problems.” Shiro was expecting Lance to asking some sort of question about what they were talking about, but he was still silent.

“That’s good. I’m glad. How long will you be at the library?”

“At least until we can find answers for Lance.” Keith said

“Very well. I’ll let you get back to your research. I hope you find your answers Lance.” Ulaz said, finally prompting Lance to look up from the floor

“Thank you. Hopefully we’ll see you before either of us go.” Lance said, his smile not quite right.

“I’ll make sure to say goodbye this time. Until then.”

The group said their goodbyes and headed back to the aisle of books where they been before. Keith picked up the book that had their information and turned to Lance, who once again, wasn’t looking at them.

“Lance?”

“Hmm?”

“Are you ok?” Keith asked concerned

“Fine. You said you found something?”

Keith didn’t believe Lance but decided to go ahead anyway. He flicked to the right page and handed the book to Lance, pointing out the section he wanted him to read.

“Potions that can mimic the looks of another spirit have also been used as a way to reveal their actual appearances. What does that mean?”

“We think, judging from what it says that you have always had this part of you that was an Altean Spirit.” Shiro explained. “So whether you are a half or a full Altean Spirit, we think the reason you changed so drastically is because well, you’ve always been an Altean Spirit and the potion you took just revealed that.”

“But, but that can’t be right. Altean Spirits are of Asian mythology right? I’m from Cuba, there’s no way I can be an Altean Spirit.”

“But maybe your half. Lance, it’s the only logical explanation for what happened to you. Everything else agreed that you should have only got the markings.” Keith reasoned.

“Ok fine, but if I am half or whatever, then who’s the spirit?”

“That’s the next thing we have to figure out. Your brother had the emblem of a protector of the Altean Royalty, which means whoever is the one who gave you your Altean looks has to be from there. Lance, I know this isn’t what you want to hear, but we have to consider the possibility.” Shiro said.

Lance didn’t look happy. It was his worst nightmare, finding out he might not actually belong to his parents. It just confused him, if he was half, then one of his parents had cheated, but whom?

_‘Great, more questions I don’t want answers to.’_ Lance thought

“Hey.”

Lance let out a screech at the sudden voice as he spun around to see Pidge standing there looking rather bored.

“Don’t do that! What do you want?”

“Don’t be rude. I can still kick you out if I want. I got the feeling you’re done with your research here?”

“Kinda. We need to find research on any members of Altean Royalty and maybe information about those who are given the emblem to protect said Royalty.” Lance explained

With a wave of their hand, Pidge sent all the books back into their place, new ones being pulled out that Pidge was sure was related to what they were looking for.

“There we go, anything else?”

“Um, do you have anything about human and spirit relationships, like romantic relationships?” Lance asked

“Uhh, yeah. It’s not in this row though; it’s a bit further down.”

“That’s fine. You guys get started I want to check something out really quickly.” Lance pushed Pidge out of the aisle without waiting to hear an answer from the twin spirits.

Once they were out of ear shot, Pidge turned around, a knowing look on their face.

“I don’t have to be some all-knowing spirit to know that was just a lie to get away from them. Why?”

“Please don’t tell them, but I actually don’t want information on human and spirit relationships. I want information about the Takashi Akira River.”

“Their river? Why?”

“I wanted to know more about them. Can you help me?”

“This isn’t going to be used maliciously is it?”

Lance shook his head. “No, never. I swear.”

Pidge stared lance down, analysing him before nodding. “Alright, I believe you. Come on.” Pidge lead him to the same aisle he had found them in before. Two books came off the shelf and landed in Pidge’s hand.

“These two are now recognised as wandering spirits so most we have are how they came to be and their life before, plus a list of events that happened at their river. When they lost their home we didn’t know where they were so there isn’t much information during that time.” They explained as they handed the books over to the white haired boy

“Thanks. Again, can you not tell them where I am?”

Pidge looked almost untrusting but nodded, “sure. I’ll keep my mouth shut.”

They left Lance in the aisle while he took a deep breath, knowing the information he’d read would break his heart, but Lance wanted to know just how deep Keith and Shiro’s relationship was.

* * *

 

Shiro took a book the Keith was handing to him, his mind far away. Since Pidge found him and brought him back with Lance, the white haired human – or half human, they still weren’t sure – hadn’t looked at him or Keith and seemed to disappear the first time he got.

“Ow!” Shiro said when a sudden pain hit him in the head. He looked up to see Keith staring down at him from his spot on the ladder, book in hand that he used to hit Shiro. “What?”

“What’s with you? You’re being quiet and it’s weird.” Keith said, shoving the book to Shiro

“I’m a quiet person.”

“And I’m Hagger’s son. Shiro, what’s wrong?”

Shiro looked like he wasn’t planning on answering before he dropped the piles of books in his hands on the floor and tugged Keith down the ladder until he was eye level.

“How do you feel about Lance?”

“What does Lance have to do with this?” Keith asked confused

“Just answer the question please. Yesterday, when Aoi was asking us what colour we preferred Lance’s hair to be, you said you didn’t care because you liked how he looked anyway.”

Keith shrugged. “I don’t care. He looks good no matter what.”

“That’s what I mean. Do you feel the same way about Lance the way you feel about me?”

“Are you asking me if I like Lance?” at Shiro’s nod, Keith shrugged again, suddenly not looking so confident. “I mean, maybe? When we met him at the bath house I was focused on protecting him. I still want to keep him safe and I never enjoyed seeing him upset and I like it when he smiles at me and – is this about what Kolivan said? About the curse on Honerva’s seal?”

“Is it too much to think is actually be true?”

Keith didn’t know how to answer, “I don’t know. Do you?”

“At that moment, yes. But I can believe that I can fall for Lance, if I haven’t already. Remember, not even the greatest powers can explain love. Or did you forget about us, when we were humans?” Shiro reminded

“That was a bit different. I mean, yes I never expected to fall in love with you, but we had more time together.”

“What, a week? Keith, I was your family’s new servant. We didn’t spend much time but we felt something that got us where we are today right? Would it be so crazy for us to feel the same way about Lance? If you do of course.”

Keith thought. He wasn’t lying, Lance was good looking and he hated seeing him upset and he wanted to keep Lance safe, it’d just, Keith never gave any thought to trying a relationship with him. It didn’t seem possible.

“ _If_ I had the chance to be with him…I might take it. You?”

“I could see it happening. The whole time he went after you when you were being attacked by Honerva’s birds, I was equally worried for both of you. I don’t know if it would even work with him being human, or half, but I really want to try. How about you?”

Keith looked away from Shiro in mild embarrassment, “I’d be interested. But why the sudden desire to talk about it?”

“It just after Pidge got me when Lance was distant. He wouldn’t look at us.”

“Ok, so I wasn’t seeing things. Maybe all this stuff is making him nervous.” Keith suggested. “How about after we find Lance’s answers, we’ll talk to him?”

“Sure. I’ll start with the pile you gave me and you try finding more things.”

Shiro grabbed the first book on the pile and looked at the title. “Royal Altean family lines, 18th-21st centenary.” Shiro opened it and turned it to the side to look at the family trees. “Hey Keith?”

“Hmm?”

“Did Lance ever mention the name of the man who adopted him? His sister, Allura’s father?”

“I don’t think so. What did you find?”

“The most recent head is someone named Alfor. He has a daughter named Allura and was protected by a man named Coran.”

“Wasn’t that the name of Lance’s uncle?” Keith asked

“Yeah. Here’s the weird thing, it says he has an unnamed son, sired with an unnamed human woman and the son is under the protection of an unnamed human.”

“Do you think…?”

“If it is, we need the proof to back it up because Lance isn’t going to want believe this.”

Keith nodded, knowing that Lance’s fear of not being his parent’s child was making him scared of any answers he could find. He pulled out a book, glancing at the title and scoffed at his luck.

“Protectors of Altean Spirits 18th-21st century. Looks like we’re finding answers fast.” He said, showing the book to Shiro

“Let’s hope the answers we find don’t upset Lance.”

* * *

 

Lance closed the book of the history of Keith and Shiro’s life, of Takashi and Akira when they were still human. It took only a week for them to fall in love and by the end of the month, they wanted to be together for the rest of their lives. Keith’s family didn’t approve, but the book stated that even the gods could see how in love they were with each other. A more vocal family member wanted Shiro gone and tried to do it himself at a bridge. He hurt Shiro but Keith had found out and reached the bridge before Shiro could be killed but got hurt in the process. He glanced over the gory details but Shiro and Keith had been able turn the assailant’s weapon on himself. The rush and blood loss got to Keith and his body ended up tipping over the railing and into the water. Shiro dove in after him but neither came back up for air and drowned. The gods had been witness to their love and their river had no spirit to protect it so their souls were changed into river spirits. The name Takashi Akira was given and stayed until the river dried up during the summer and then was covered when apartment buildings was built over it.

Their love made them river spirits. What chance did Lance have?

Lance had been so into his thoughts he didn’t see Ulaz walk into the aisle, looking and feeling lost.

“Spirits above, how on earth does anyone find their way around here?” he complained to himself when he noticed Lance curled up on the floor, his gaze looking so lost at the ground. “Lance?”

Lance looked up at his name and saw Ulaz staring down at him. “Ulaz. What are you doing here, I thought you were…I actually don’t know what you’re researching.”

“Bettering my knowledge of medicine so I can better help people. Besides, the last time I saw Shiro, I joined a guild. My mate and I were sent here on a mission but he’s taking care of what we were sent here for. What’s wrong, you seem upset.”

“No, no, I’m fine. Really.” Lance said, not even sure he convinced himself.

“Is your research not going well?”

Lance looked away from Ulaz then, “answers are the last thing on my mind right now.”

Ulaz sat next to Lance, putting his books to the side so he could focus fully on Lance. He noticed the books sitting in front Lance and picked it up. “Curious about your friends?”

“Yeah and I wish I wasn’t because it’s just a reminder of how I can’t…”

“Can’t?” Ulaz pushed

“Never mind.” The two were silent as Lance drowned himself in unpleasant thoughts while Ulaz waited for him to say something. “When you met Shiro, did he ever talk about Keith?”

“He did. He was worried about him when he finally woke up after he had to seal his powers back into his body with the tattoo. He told me that they depended on each other and he couldn’t leave him alone.”

“Did you know that they were together?”

“Yes. Why, did you just find out?”

Lance stayed silent for a good while but eventually opened his mouth. “When we met, I was thinking about…Keith stole Honerva’s solid gold seal.”

“Hagger’s sister? Is he insane? How is he alive?”

“I got him to spit it out and decided that if I took it back to her, she might lift the curse but when I gave it to her, she told me it had already been broken. She told me that true love breaks the curse, which I thought made no sense because I’ve only really known Keith and Shiro like 4 days now. I thought that maybe she might be right and started thinking I might give it a chance when I found out I have no chance because they’ve been together for centuries. Their love touched the gods for them to turn them into river spirits. Honerva was wrong, I didn’t break the curse, Shiro’s feelings for Keith had to of done it.”

After he was done with his explanation turned rant, Lance hid his face in his knees, trying his best to make himself look small. He didn’t know why it upset him so much. He should be happy for them, he loved love, so why was this affecting him so much.

“When you were told the reasons for the curse breaking, what were the thoughts after?”

“I thought it couldn’t be possible but my dad said he took one look at my mom and fell in love. They risked so much for me and they make me feel safe. I thought for a minute the idea of being with them and my heart fluttered.”

“Lance, not even the gods can truly understand love. All they can do is look at two people and try and decide if what they see is real. Yes, Keith and Shiro have been together for a long time, but that doesn’t mean their love can’t grow. Answer me honestly, if you had a chance to be with them, would you take it?”

Would he? If he pushed everything he knew about them now out and focused on how he felt, Lance wanted to take a chance. Maybe he wasn’t sure if it was true love yet, but, he wanted a chance. Lance knew that he sometimes fell in love to fast, but with everything they’d been through, Lance wanted to try.

“Yeah, but they-”

“It doesn’t matter what they have. Sometimes, you have to take a risk. It might not be a risk you want to take, no one does, but sometimes it’s necessary. Look at me, my mate was in love with someone he couldn’t have.” Lance looked at Ulaz surprised. He didn’t know him well, but he seemed like someone you could be happy with. “I was jealous of course and pushed him away because of it but seeing him hurt made me hurt so I decided to take a chance and tell him how I feel. He wanted to forget and I was scared being used as a way to but as time went on it became apparent he forgot quiet easily to be with me. We took our chances and we were rewarded for it. You might be rewarded the same way.”

“And if I’m not?”

“It’s harsh to think about, but after you get your answers, you’ll be going back to the human world correct?”

Very harsh but very true. After he was done, he’d be leaving and the thought of not saying anything left a bad taste in Lance’s mouth. He’d rather get rejected than live the rest of his life questioning whether or not he should of said something.

“So, are you gonna take the risk?”

* * *

 

Lance found Shiro and Keith going over a pair of books and looking pensive.

“Hey.” Lance said.

They looked up at his voice, already seeming to grasp how he was feeling. They did that really well, Lance never noticed that until then.

“Lance, are you ok?”

“I’m fine. Just really stressed.” Keith and Shiro looked at each other, like they knew something but Lance stopped them before they could say anything. “Let’s, put a hold on the information ok? I’m really hungry.”

“Ok,” Shiro nodded, not pushing. “Did we want to invite Ulaz?”

“Oh, yeah. I was just talking to him. He’s here with his mate. I think I can still catch up to him. I’ll be right back.” Lance took off from where he came from while the river spirits got up and Shiro stacked the books they didn’t need any more in a neat pile.

“How are we gonna ask him. Didn’t Lance say he died?” Keith asked

“I think the part about you actually being the son of a high ranking Altean spirit might be more important. We have to get him to see it first before we can firmly say yes.”

They heard someone walking into the aisle they were in and was surprised to see Ulaz.

“Lance went looking for you. He was hungry and wanted to invite you to lunch.”

“Of course. I’d bring Thace as well, except I’ve lost him and it’s nearly impossible to find my way around here. But while we’re alone, I wanted to ask you something. Lance found out that the two of you are together, does that change how you feel about him?”

“What do you mean?”

“What I mean is, forgetting what Honerva said about her curse, if you had the chance to be with Lance, would you take it?”

The question was sudden but Shiro learned quickly Ulaz wasn’t one to beat around the bush. Shiro had a feeling Lance had been thinking the same thing they had been thinking.

“We would.” Keith answered for them both.

Ulaz nodded, “that’s all I need to know. Make sure he knows this.”

Just then, Lance came back into the aisle. “I couldn’t – oh, I was just looking for you.”

“I heard. Thank you for your invitation to lunch. As soon as I can figure out where Thace disappeared to, we can ask Pidge to provide us with something.”

“I’m returning a tall furry spirit.”

Coming up from behind was Pidge followed by another Galra Shadow Spirit. Again he was tall, his fur the same dark colour Kolivan’s was, his hair reminding Lance a bit of how Wolverine’s looked.

“Are you always this rude to your library’s guests?” Thace asked, glaring down at the Olkari Spirit, who didn’t seem the least bit bothered.

“I think you already know the answer to that question. So I heard something about lunch? Just a heads up, Olkari Spirits are primarily vegetarians.”

“That’s fine, so’s my best friend, so I’m good to eat, just no tofu.” Lance said

“Good enough for me, this way.” Pidge said, leading them out of the aisle and down the pathway until they reached a fusuma sliding door, an oak tree printed on the rice paper. They opened it to reveal chabudai table, already laid out with food. “When you’re done and you need me, just keep walking straight, my desk is there.”

Lance couldn’t believe he just realised Pidge’s desk hadn’t been in the same aisle they took them to when they first entered the library.

Most of lunch was spent hearing Lance’s story and a bit about the Blade of Mamora, the guild Ulaz and Thace had joined. According to them, the guild assisted another to keep powerful spirits from trying to slip into the human world or even wreak havoc in the spirit realm.

“They didn’t trust us at first but the current head is very insistent that we can be trusted.” Thace explained

“Seems like such a bad idea not to trust each other when you have bigger enemies to face.” Keith pointed out, looking over to Lance who was looking forlornly at his empty set. “What’s wrong?”

“I’m still hungry. I think my body just realised how I didn’t really eat a ton during my stay at the bath house.”

“What do you mean?”

“Well my first night there, I wasn’t really hungry and then the next day, all I really ate was the steamed buns Hunk got us, then it was the sweets Honerva gave us. I think dinner with the Isuku River Spirit was the first full dinner I had since being here.”

“Lance.” Keith said disapprovingly

“Not my fault. Do you think Pidge would be willing to give seconds?”

“I’m more than willing to ask, as the healer in me is crying over the lack of nutrition you’ve been getting.” Ulaz said, standing up.

“Ah, I forget I need to get these books released.” Thace said picking up the small pile of books that sat next to him.

The two spirits left them all in the room and Lance sat his chopsticks down. This was the first time he’d been alone with Keith and Shiro since finding out about their past and his talk with Ulaz. He knew they had information to give and he’d rather get this all sorted out before he got all flustered and messed up with what he’d learn.

“Hey, while we’re alone I wanted to talk to you guys about something. So I sound out that you guys are together and don’t worry, it doesn’t bother me, I’m bi so. Anyway it just after I found out, I remembered what Honerva said about her curse and I started think-”

Lance felt something grab his chin and turn his head and then he felt a pair of lips press against his. Lance blinked at the up close view of Shiro’s face when his mind finally caught up to him. He was kissing Shiro. Like, tall, buff, cute Shiro that Lance just decided he wanted a chance with, along with Keith. When Shiro pulled away, the only thing Lance could do was blink and gap. He wasn’t opposed to it, but he was hoping to discuss this first. Another hand grabbed his cheek turning his head the next way so Keith could press a kiss to Lance’s cheek. Getting kisses from both guys he liked snapped Lance back into motion.

“Hey! Wait a second! I wanted to discuss this first. I’m not opposed to the kisses but I-”

“I like you, Shiro likes you, and I’m sure Ulaz’s question means you feel the same.” Keith stated matter of factly.

Lance looked over to Shiro for help, but all the black dragon did was shrug his shoulders. “You said it yourself, he’s impulsive.”

“You kissed him first!” Keith defended.

Looking embarrassed if the blush on his face was anything to go by, Shiro said, “Sorry. It’s just when you started blabbering, you had this look on your face. I was gonna wait but I just really wanted to kiss you at that moment. But what Keith said is true. We do like you. The whole set of events in the bathhouse didn’t really allow us to really see it but now that we know your safe from Hagger, we started thinking about more. We know it’ll be difficult, figuring out how all 3 of us fit together and you going back to the human world, but we want to make this work. If you want to as well.”

Lance nodded. “I do. I’ll admit I’m a bit scared because you two have centuries of time together but I want to take the risk and see if it works.”

“Thankfully, we don’t give up easily. We’ll figure this out.” Keith promised

“Ok.” as quickly as he could, Lance pressed kisses to both boys’ cheek before they could react, looking very proud of himself at their stunned looks. “Now you know how I feel.” He was saved from anymore surprise attacks when Ulaz and Thace came back, another full lunch set in hand

“We’ll be leaving after we eat.” Thace announced as Lance dug in. “thank you for inviting us to eat with you and we hope you find the answers you’re looking for.”

“Yeah, me too.” Lance said, not seeing Shiro and Keith glance at each other.

* * *

 

They were back in the stacks that held information about Altean Spirits when they two river spirits sat Lance down.

“Ok, we need you to listen to us ok? We found family trees of all the members of the high ranking Altean Spirits and we found something that you might not like, because it was something you were scared to hear, but just bear with us ok?” Keith asked, Lance nodding. “Ok so the most recent head of the Altean Spirits has a daughter named Allura. And she was put under the protections of someone called Coran.”

“Like my sister and uncle?” Lance asked

Keith nodded, “they’re not very common names so we were starting to question when we also found out that he has a half human son that he sired with a human. That son was put under the protection of a human.”

Lance felt something build in his stomach and was almost regretting the second helping.

“Then we found a book on the Protectors of Altean Spirits. The most recent one was a human name…Mark McClain.” Shiro continued.

Lance felt his world stop. Mark McClain, his brother. The same brother whose jacket he was wearing. His brother was a protector of an Altean Spirit and they had told him that the only way the potion could of affected him so much was if he was an Altean Spirit or at least part.

“That, that’s my brother. Mark McClain.” Lance said breathlessly. “Wh-what’s the name of the current head?”

“Uh,” Keith looked at the family tree. “His name’s Alfor.

Everything stopped. That couldn’t be right. There was no way that could be right. Alfor disappeared or died when he was still a kid. He couldn’t be the current head. Lance couldn’t be his son. That didn’t make any sense.

“Lance?” he couldn’t tell who was speaking but he felt a hand on his arm when tears started welling up in his eyes. “Lance, talk to us.”

“Alfor is-Alfor is Allura’s dad. Alfor adopted me after my family died. Alfor disappeared. Alfor can’t be, he can’t be.” Lance could barely get out. This couldn’t be right, there was no way it was right. He felt the same hand pull him into a chest as their arms wrapped around him. “That can’t be right. Alfor can’t be here. He can’t because he wouldn’t abandon me.”

“Lance, do you want us to search for him, if he is the same Alfor?” the other voiced asked.

Did he want to know the truth? Did he want to hear that he was Alfor’s son and not his father's? Not really, but he left Allura and Coran to find out why Mark had the symbol in his jacket. How was Alfor connected to him and how did he never know?

“Find him. Please find him because I need to know if everything in my life was a lie and I need to hear it straight from him. Not from any books, him. I want to know why he left. I want to know why he put me through that. So please find him.”

He would get his answers. Even if it meant having to face someone he thought was dead, he’d get his answers.


	14. Chapter 14

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lance finds out the truth and says goodbye...

“You want me to locate the current head of the Altean Spirits?” Pidge asked, staring Shiro down

“Yes. Pidge please, we have to find him.”

Shiro had transferred the confused and distraught Lance into Keith’s arms, telling him to keep him calm while he went to pander Pidge about finding the location of Alfor. The happiness he felt about getting a chance with Lance was pushed to the side in hopes he could find the answers Lance was looking for. This whole trip took a turn and all Shiro wanted was for Lance to figure all this out. In order to do that, they needed to find Alfor.

“What does this have to do with your research? I don’t usually go find people you know.”

“Alfor might be Lance’s father. We need to find out, but from him, which means we need to find him, so please. I am begging you, can you please find him?”

Pidge’s eyes widen when Shiro said Lance might be Alfor’s son.

“Lance is a complete mess and thinks his life is a lie. Pidge, he deserves to know the truth.” Shiro begged

“Alright. I can do you one better. I have to go and get books from him. I can tell him to come here instead. There are more than enough spaces for them to talk in private yet you and Keith to still be close by. Neutral space and all.”

“Please and get him here fast.”

Pidge nodded and Shiro went back to where he left Keith and Lance. He found that they had move, Lance was curled up against Keith’s chest, between his legs, his jacket in a bundle away from them, like Lance threw it. Shiro guessed the confusion with what his brother had to do with everything made Lance shed his one connection to him.

He thought Lance hadn’t noticed him until he heard his muffled voice say, “Did you find him?”

“He has books Pidge didn’t collect yesterday. They’ve agreed to have him come here so he can talk to you. We can leave you alone with him or we can stay. The Library is big enough for us to still be nearby if you want to face him alone.”

Shiro only heard Lance’s uneven breathing as he seemed to try and burrow himself further into Keith’s chest.

“I think, I think I’ll face him alone but can you…?”

“We’ll stay close by. We promised to keep you safe right?” Keith said.

Shiro watched as Lance seemed to loosen a bit and moved closer to Keith, gently taking Lance’s hand from where it was curled around Keith’s shirt. Lance let him take it and hold his hand gently.

“We’re not going anywhere ok? Just say the word and we’ll be there with you ok?”

Shiro really hoped Alfor got there quick. He had answers that Lance desperately needed.

* * *

 

Lance stared down at the cup of green tea that was in his hands. His head was still spinning from what Shiro and Keith told him. Alfor was alive because he was a spirit that had been parading around as a human for so long. Part of Lance was happy Alfor was alive but the other part was furious. He grew up thinking it was his fault Alfor disappeared, no matter how farfetched and out there it seemed, it just made sense to Lance. And now, finding out he was only half his parents’ son. Did Alfor not want him when he was born? Did his father secretly hate him for not being his son by blood? Why did Alfor decided to come back? Was anything even real anymore? Lance looked down at his necklace and picked at the purple crystal that belonged to Allura. Did she know? Why didn’t she tell him? Why didn’t she and Coran ever tell him? Did they even want him around?

A tattooed hand rested gently on his wrist, making Lance notice his hands were shaking. Shiro took over staying with him while Keith went to wait for Alfor to appear. Shiro told him not to kill him because of how he made Lance upset, though he heard Keith muttering about how he deserved it.

This was real. How he felt for Keith and Shiro and how they felt for him. That was real. It was weird, being in a place full of fantasy and how he felt for two spirits felt more real than his whole life.

“You never told me how you got that cord for your necklace.” Shiro said, trying to distract Lance, as he pulled the lukewarm cup of tea out of his hands and rested it on the table in front of them. A bit of searching allowed them to find this small loft, the two sitting on a low couch to match the height of the table.

“Lotor, Hagger’s bird and No Face made it for me. Kolivan gave me a piece of cord but it rubbed against my neck really badly. I think Hoenrva choose the colour intentionally.”

“Black, red and blue. She was trying to hint she wanted us together.” Shiro said, his finger sliding under the cord, looking at how all three colours intertwined.

“Shiro…I’m scared.” Lance said, the smile he got from talking about his new relationship dimming.

“You have every right to be, but Keith and I aren’t going to let anything happen to you. Remember, just say the word and we’ll be right there. I can’t promise Keith won’t try to eat him, but I’ll try.”

“My kind dragon.”

“And what am I?”

“My smart dragon that can control my other one.” Lance sassed, almost missing Keith not being there to glare at him for his comment.

“True, though honestly I wouldn’t try hard to stop him from attacking Alfor. He hurt you.” Shiro said, his finger’s moving from Lance’s necklace to his white hair.

“I don’t really know how to feel about all of this. I’m happy he’s alive but I’m also scared about what he’d tell me and mad he just left. And I’m upset with Allura and Coran as well. I just don’t know what to believe. Except you and Keith. I know you’re real.”

“We are. Are you sure you don’t want us to be there with you?”

Lance nodded. “I’ll be fine. I hope.” Lance leaned against Shiro, letting him run his fingers through his hair, trying to stay calm. Before he knew it, Keith was climbing up the stairs, an annoyed look on his face. Lance knew it wasn’t directed towards them. “Is he here?”

“Returning his books to Pidge.” Keith said, his anger towards the man seeping into his voice as he came over and dropped himself on Lance’s other side. “I’ve never wanted to hurt someone as badly as him.”

“If he really upsets me, you have my permission.” Lance said

They sat in comforting silence until they heard Pidge’s voice and a voice Lance hadn’t heard in years.

“But what’s over here?”

“Look, its better if you go upstairs and see ok?” Pidge insisted.

The sound of footsteps was heard and it took everything for Lance not to tense up again. And then, there he was. Alfor, the same shaggy white hair framing his bearded face, the same blue eyes that Lance always thought looked similar to his, the same calming aura around him. Though calm was the last thing Lance was feeling. He stopped when he spotted Lance sitting between the two river spirits.

“Lance?” he asked stunned.

Lance didn’t answer him, staring him down his a blank look, only turning away when Shiro quietly told him that he and Keith would go wait downstairs. He waited until he was sure they were gone before picking up his cup of tea and standing up so he was in front of Alfor before throwing the tea in the Altean Spirit’s face.

While Alfor sputtered, Lance said, “you deserve a hell more than that, so don’t fucking complain. I spent most of my life blaming myself for your disappearance only to find out you’ve been here? I want answers!”

Wiping away most of the tea away, Alfor said, “Lance,” while trying to touch Lance’s shoulders

“Don’t touch me! Is it true? Am I really your son?” Alfor looked lost for words. “Answer me!”

“Yes. Yes, it’s true. But Lance-”

“Shut up. How could you? My parents were happy and you just, what, charmed my mother and left her when she became pregnant with me? Did you even want me around? And what the fuck did my brother have to do with this?”

“Lance, that’s not true.” Alfor tried explaining, trying again to touch Lance’s shoulder.

“Don’t. Touch me. What’s the truth then? I wasn’t expecting when I got spirited away that I’d find out my whole life has been a lie, so start talking!”

“Your parents were happy but when I met your mother, they weren’t. I didn’t take advantage of her, please believe me on that. Your parents were on a trip in Osaka trying to rework their marriage because they had been fighting and arguing. It was like the spark that was there was gone but it wasn’t like that. Your mother told me your father had been focused on work and while she was sure that he still loved her, she didn’t feel it. I know I shouldn’t have gotten together with your mother that night, it was my mistake. Don’t think I didn’t want you Lance. That’s not true and it never has been.”

“Then why did my parents never tell me about you?” Lance demanded to know, tears building up in his eyes at the admission that his mother had cheated with the man in front of him.

“Because I told them not to. I went to your father myself and told him what I had done, telling him who I was and what that meant for you. He didn’t believe me until you were born. Lance, your hair was as white as it is now. But do you want to know something? Your father forgot that you weren’t his by blood when he first met you, because even if you weren’t related by blood, you were his. You were then and you always were. I met them after you were born and your father told me that you were his no matter what. I agreed with him because I couldn’t take you from your parents like that.”

“But did you want me?”

“Of course I did! But Lance, I was still living in the Spirit Realm. I was only in the human world trying to round up the lackeys of a dark spirit that were able to slip into the human world. I wasn’t going to put you into danger and I couldn’t take you from your parents after they fell in love with you.”

Lance finally looked away from Alfor, tears streaming down his face. His parents would have left each other, they could of but his father took one look at him, white hair and all and said he was his son, no matter what anyone said.

“I told myself I wouldn’t involve myself with your family so you wouldn’t bond with me and start questioning but somehow your father and I bumped into each other during your trip to Japan. He told me that you were interested in all the Japanese mythology he told you.”

“He told me that stuff because of you?”

Alfor nodded his face thoughtful. “I didn’t ask him to. He told me while I didn’t want to be involved for safety reasons, he wanted you to be somewhat connected to me. It was during that trip your brother found out about me. He overheard me and your father talking.”

“And you just decided to make him my protector?”

“He came to me. Mark was extremely stubborn and determined. He told me he wouldn’t let me take you away from them.”

“Mark, he knew and he was threatening you?” Lance asked. He didn’t want to doubt his brother’s love for him, but he couldn’t be sure

“Your brother, just like your father, didn’t care where you came from. You were his brother and that’s all that mattered. I didn’t think you’d need an appointed protector because you were in the human world, but I decided to make him yours anyway. I have him the patch and told him to have it with him at all times so any spirits who came to the human world and tried anything would see who he was, the proud protector of his little brother.”

Lance cried more, with the knowledge that his brother would do anything to protect him.

“His jacket. It was in his jacket and he gave it to me before he left. Does that mean he was attacked then and that’s what killed them?” he asked his mind going to a dark place quickly.

Alfor shook his head, his hands lifted as if to touch Lance’s shoulder, but he remembered how Lance reacted and re-thought that decision. “I checked, sure that without his emblem, any spirit would take advantage and try attacking but it was just as the officers had said. Engine failure caused the plane to crash. I tried so many times to find out if there was foul play but it was just man’s technology failing.”

“Ok fine. So my parents and brother knew who I was and didn’t care and you left me so protect me, then why the hell did you leave again? Why didn’t Allura and Coran tell me? Did they even know? How could you think that leaving was the smart thing to do, to just up and leave me after I lost my whole family? I thought it was my fault and you just left like you didn’t care.”

“I did care.” Alfor said

“Then why did you leave!? Why did you think leaving was a good idea?” Lance yelled

“I didn’t want to. When I found out what happened to your family I knew I had to do something so I adopted you. I didn’t want to leave you and I wanted to provide you with a family but I got word that another spirit was trying to wreak havoc. Lance, time passes differently here than in the human world. It’s never certain how long it’s been so I couldn’t lie and say I was on a business trip and turns out a month in the Spirit Realm was 2 years in the human world.”

“So you thought disappearing was a better idea?”

Alfor truly looked upset with himself but Lance didn’t care. He had been carrying the hurt for a long time and he deserved to take it out on Alfor.

“I didn’t want to. Altean Spirits are seen as the spirits to be trusted in protecting the Spirit Realm. I created a guild and joined with another one to try and defeat this spirit. The whole time I hoped you had been able to move on.”

“I didn’t even move on from my family’s deaths. Then someone I saw as a father figure ups and disappears with no warning. So no Alfor, I didn’t move on because this whole time it was always stuck on my mind. I didn’t want to come to Japan because I thought I’d be leaving both my family and you, except you were fine. Fine enough to leave a child to think he was the reason for your death!” Lance yelled, seeing the guilt on Alfor’s face

_‘Good, let him feel guilty. He deserves it.’_

“I know and I know no amount of apologies will ever forgive me for what I put you through.”

“Damn right it won’t. So Allura and Coran? They knew?”

“They did. Allura is actually my daughter and she and Coran are Altean Spirits.”

Lance let out a frustrated huff, wiping away his still falling tears. “Was anything about my life with you real?”

“Our love for you was. Allura was concerned when you came to live with us, I won’t deny that, but she grew to love you quickly. Coran loved you at first sight. He knew how me leaving would affect you and wasn’t happy with my leaving either. He made his displeasure known many times but I didn’t have a choice. Most of the people didn’t trust the Blade and I needed to be there to make sure this spirit never got out.”

“The Blade? You mean the Blade of Mamora?”

“Yes. How did you know that?” Alfor asked intrigued

“It doesn’t matter. Why did they never tell me?” Lance demanded

“I can’t give you their reason but I’m sure it was to protect from ever knowing. We wanted you to grow up not questioning your place. I can see we failed.”

“Yeah because they ate the food offerings at the witch Hagger has at her bathhouse.”

“Hagger? You were with Hagger? And they ate the food?”

“You don’t get to sound disapproving. You lost that chance when you left. They’re fine by the way.” Lance sassed

“I’m glad to know. I just thought Coran would have been smarter. I’m sorry you had to go through this.”

Lance shook his head. “I hated not knowing what was happening, scared that Allura and Coran would be killed but I had help. People in the bathhouse took one look at me and whether or not they believe me when I lied saying I was half Altean, they wanted to help me. I found something that was real in all this confusion. This was probably the most confusing past few days but the spoiled person I became after you left is gone.” Lance rubbed his tears away. “There’s a small part of me that wants to forgive you but you put me through so much guilt for so long, I can’t. I’m going back to the human world and if you really want to earn forgiveness, maybe you’ll try and come and see me. After I found out everything, I was so sure everything was a lie, but you told me my family wasn’t. So I really hope you can prove that how you feel about me isn’t a lie either.” Lance picked up his jacket and didn’t even say anything to Alfor as he walked around him and down the stairs

Shiro and Keith were waiting with open arms once he reached the bottom and all the other tears his anger had stopped came up.

“Take me home please.” He begged. Everything still hurt; finding out the truth was earth shattering because he had been left in the dark about everything his whole life. He didn’t know if Alfor would try and earn his forgiveness and life with Coran and Allura would be difficult now that he knew the truth, but part of him felt at peace that he knew the truth now. He wished he could ask his parents for their side but the knowledge of how they felt about him that he was theirs no matter what, made him happy. He at the very least had that. And he had Shiro and Keith. They didn’t know how this would work, but Lance wasn’t going to give up. Not after everything he went through.

* * *

 

Lance led Keith and Shiro back into the boiler room of the bath house. His eyes felt puffy still and honestly the whole experience with Alfor and finding out the truth made him feel drained, even after his nap on the cloud that floated them back to the bath house. He didn’t want to think about how everything was going to change between him, Allura and Coran.

He was interrupted from his thoughts by the soot balls cheering for his return, jumping around him before he got into the gakuen. Kolivan was working on his pedestal as the bath house had just opened.

“Your back. Did you find what you were looking for?” he asked

“Something like that.” Lance said taking his shoes off before climbing where Kolivan’s futon was folded and dropped the top half of his body onto it. “Turns out I’m actually half Altean and my actual birth father has been alive this whole time. In better news though, I’m dating Keith and Shiro.” Lance had his eyes closed but he could hear the pestle stop and Kolivan moving, probably looking at him.

“It’s a long story. Do you think Hagger’s busy?” Keith asked

“Lot more guests since she was offering discounts to guests as an apology for what happened with No Face. It’s still going on.”

Lance heard footsteps and then someone’s hand on his head. “Do you want to leave now?” Keith asked

Lance shook his head. “I still need time to process everything. Can you go and check that Hagger didn’t do anything while we’re gone though?”

“Sure. I’ll see if I can find Hunk so you can see him.” Keith offered, getting up when Lance nodded.

Kolivan started grinding the mixes again and the sound of the pestle moving against the mortar started to lull Lance to sleep when the side door opened and he heard his name being called

“You’re ok! I’m so glad to see you again.” Hunk said, pulling Lance into a tight and almost back breaking hug.

“I couldn’t leave without say goodbye. I mean, I leave tomorrow, but you’ll be asleep.”

“Oh, that reminds me. You’re never going to guess what happened.” Hunk said, almost bouncing with excitement.

“What?”

“Someone paid off all my debt to Hagger, which means I’m free to leave the bathhouse!”

Lance blinked. He forgot he wanted to do something about that but the fact that someone paid the whole thing?

“Do you know who it was? I mean, this is huge. Did anyone else know?”

Hunk shook his head, “not really. A few of my friends and you of course, but yeah, I was called up by Hagger and she told me someone paid off all my debts. She said his name was, uhh, I think it was something like Alec or Alphonse or…”

“Alfor?” Alfor paid Hunk’s debt?

“Yeah, that’s it. According to Hagger, he said something about helping out someone important to him. Not sure what that meant, but I’m free of debt.”

Hunk swept Lance into a hug again, Lance’s mind still racing. Alfor went to the bathhouse and paid off Hunk’s debt because he helped Lance. He guessed Alfor did want to try and earn his forgiveness.

* * *

 

Lance’s very last night at the bathhouse was spent with them celebrating Hunk’s new freedom and Kolivan even announced he might be leaving the bathhouse soon as well.

“I’ve gotten in contact with a few friends recently. That’s all I’m saying.”

Kolivan allowed them to spend the night with him and Lance got his first experience sharing a futon with his new boyfriends, since they all slept in separate rooms when they stayed with Isuku River Spirit. Shiro was a really good pillow and Keith talked in his sleep, a lot. Lance had a full conversation with him. He got one last sleepy goodbye from Hunk and Kolivan before they went up to the front of the bathhouse, where Lance stared at the people waiting for him.

Allura and Coran. They were human again and from where Lance was standing, he spotted familiar marks under their eyes.

“So it’s true.” At the sound of his voice, they turned around, taking in his new look. “I know. I know what you kept from me and while I’m angry and unsure if I can trust you that much anymore, I’m really happy you’re ok.”

“Lance.” Allura started

“Can we just…I’m still not really ready to talk about this and I really want to go home.”

The two looked guilty but nodded anyway.

“Are you gonna say goodbye to your friends?” Allura asked, looking around Lance to see the two river spirits.

“Um yeah. I’ll be right back.” Lance turned and walked to his two boyfriends. “So, this is where we say goodbye for now.”

“We can go to the human world and with our names back we have more power so we can allow ourselves to appear human. We won’t keep you waiting long for your first date.” Shiro promised.

“Good, I expect you to try and figure out the time difference and come and see me.” Lance said.

“Hey, here. We wanted you to have these.” Keith took Lance hand, depositing something into his hand. They were scales, one red, the other black.

“Are these?” Lance asked

“This way you can have us whenever you want.”

“Thank you.” He said, pressing kisses to their cheeks.

“So, ready to go?” At Lance’s nod, Shiro explained. “Go back the way you guys came but don’t look back after you pass the river until after you’ve gotten past the entrance outside okay?”

“Okay. So I guess I’ll see you soon?”

“Soon. Now go.”

Lance nodded and went back to Coran and Allura, looking back at the two as they got further and further until they reached the street of restaurants and they were out of sight. It took them a while to get back to the entrance but eventually they were standing in front of their car, which was covered in leaves and dust. Lance also noticed that the wall of the entrance was covered in ivy and the statue that made them to stop looked weathered down and covered in moss. He also noticed the markings on Coran and Allura’s face were gone.

“How much time passed?” Lance asked, pulling out his phone to check the time. While the screen was still dark Lance could see his hair was once again brown. Lance was actually going to miss his white hair. It took a while for his phone to catch up after being frozen by the presence of the Spirit Realm, but it finally came up and Lance looked at the time and date. Lance had been in the Spirit Realm for a week. 5 hours had passed. “Is this right?”

Allura had turned the car on and checked her own phone. “Yep, 5 hours. I guess all the nature made all the dust gather.”

“Shall we get going? I know that being in the new country and new place won’t be that scary anymore.” Coran asked

Lance looked at the two dragon scales in his hands and smiled. “Yeah, I think I can handle it.”


	15. Eplouge

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lance gets an amazing surprise after school....

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Lance is doing traditional archery.  
> Also a big thanks to all those who left kudos and bookmarked and subscribed and left comments, it was the best so thank you for keeping up with me.

**_Few months later_ **

Lance took a deep breath and unleashed the arrow. It hit the bull eye and as much as Lance wanted to jump up on down in excitement, he had the still had to finish the hassetsu technique. Once he was back in starting position he started jumping up and down.

“Nice work Lance.” The kyudo club president congratulated. “You’re more than ready for the competition next week. Just keep practising.”

“Yes ma’am.” Lance answered.

When Lance arrived at his new house for the first time, Coran was excited that the movers had waited for them. After everything was in place, they talked. They explained how they felt guilty that they couldn’t tell Lance what happened. Lance was still unsure how to feel but the two tried to make it up to him. Alfor also came to see him. They were trying and Shay still checked in letting him know his family’s graves were ok. Allura already had a time set aside for him to go back to the states so he could talk to his parents and tell them he knew the truth. Things could be awkward at times, making Lance feel like he was a kid again first living with his new family, but they were getting better.

Keith and Shiro had joined the Blade, meaning they were in close working with Alfor, who Keith still wanted to hurt, but working with Thace and Ulaz made it worth it. Kolivan had joined as well the last time Keith and Shiro visited him, finally free of the bathhouse. Hagger was still a witch and Honerva was still living happily with No Face helping her. Hunk had joined Alfor’s guild and would usually join Keith and Shiro on their missions.

When his boyfriends could visit, Lance was able to feel himself falling for them more and more. He and Keith could push each other buttons like no big deal and they loved to compete. Shiro usually had to calm them down, getting them to relax. Shiro was a good listener and always welcome for hugs. Lance felt happy with them, their kisses making his head spin. Keith still made honest compliments that turned him red and Shiro would mischievously steal kisses when he least expected it. The long distance thing sucked, even with the confusion with the time difference but they made it work.

Lance changed from his kyudo uniform back into his school uniform. The last thing he put on after he closed the locker was his necklace, wrapped around his wrist like a bracelet. He had put their scales on the bracelet as well and the amount the charms on it made it too bulky to have on during school, plus he liked the feel of the scales against his pulse when he was in class.

He was reached the shoes lockers when someone called his name. He turned his head to see one of his female classmates waiting for him. Lance spotted a white thing in her hand and hid his grimace. This had happened before, someone confessing to him. They seemed to think that because he admitted he was bisexual and in a relationship, they still thought they had a chance.

“Hi Momo. How are you?” he asked as kindly as possible

“I wanted to tell you something.” She said getting right into it. Lance would like to point out that most of the girls in his school were much more forward than he was used to for Japanese people

“I’m sure you do.”

“I like you. Will you accept my confession letter? I know you said you’re bisexual so you’re interested right?”

“Look, Momo. I mean this in the nicest way possible, but no. I’m sorry. I’m going out with someone.” 2 someones, but he never really told people he was also poly and technically Keith and Shiro were considered one person because of their name.

She looked upset. “But, what I feel for you…”

“I’m sure it’s real but what I have with this person is real to me. We’re happy and that’s not going to change.”

Suddenly someone wrapped their arms around his waist and pressed their lips against his neck. When he felt them dip their fingers into his sleeve and tug gently at the scales of his bracelet, he knew exactly who it was.

“Keith!” Lance spun around, throwing his arms around Keith’s neck and pulling him into a kiss. “What are you doing here?” he asked as he pulled away

“What, not happy to see me?”

“I’m always happy to see you. I didn’t think you’d be free.”

“We’ve been really busy and were told to take a break. You ready to go?” Keith asked

“Oh yeah.” Lance quickly pulled his indoor shoes off and pulled on his others after putting them back in their locker before turning to Momo. “I’m really sorry Momo, but I don’t feel the same. Bye.” He hoped that got the message through.

They were out the school when Lance spotted another person standing at the bottom of the steps. “Shiro!” he quickly went the stairs and kissed his other boyfriend. “This is the best day ever. Got a 100 on a test, was told I’d be representing the school in a kyudo competition, got a bullseyes all throughout practise and now my two favourite boys are here.”

“The highest of praises. Can your two favourite boys walk you home or perhaps we can take you on a date since we had to cut the last one really short.” Shiro asked, linking his hand to Lance’s, while Keith offered Lance his arm.

“How about the beta fish café I told you about? You’d be surrounded by your people.” Lance teased as they left school grounds.

“You’re such a brat aren’t you?” Keith said

“And you love me for it.” Lance said, looking extremely knowing.

Shiro squeezed Lance’s hand while Keith put his other hand on the one Lance had linked through his arm.

“Yes we really do.” They said


End file.
